


To become a star

by Neitthe



Category: Amar a Muerte (TV), Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Football, Football | Soccer, Gen, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2020-09-08 03:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 66,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20292187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neitthe/pseuds/Neitthe
Summary: Follow Juliana and Valentina on their journey to reach their dreams together.





	1. Juliana's

In a small city in Mexico, you can always find people playing football in the afternoon all over the place. kids and adults alike playing for fun or even for their dream to become just like their own football superstar idol.

Such like in the small dirt clearing where a group of kids was playing football, but there was something different in this group. There was a little girl that looks a lot smaller and younger than the other boys that plays with them

The small girl tackled the ball from a bad pass and started dribbling down the uneven dirt field, she just cut through the other larger defenders without any problem.

The crowd of small children was cheering her on as she has become the best player in the area, and they are really proud of her for beating the bigger kids from across town.

She past another defender and took a quick shoot to the goal that passed the keeper. And the crowd goes wild screaming her name and running up to her giving her hugs.

This is a daily occurrence for the girl, Juliana. She cant really remember how she started playing. But she knows she enjoy the sport so much and plays it every chance she got.

As the sunset come and fatigue starts to hit the kids, they ended the match in a dominating fashion, Juliana alone has scored 6 goals in the game.

she walks home juggling her beat up ball, her most priced possession. She remembered the first time she got it. It was a gift, Juliana’s mom gave it to her on her sixth birthday and she haven’t parted with it since then.

Nearing her house she can hear another shouting match from inside of the house. It's always been like this since as long as she can remember. Her dad and mom always fighting about something, and usually it's not so bad. But sometimes when her dad was drinking, he would hit her mom or throw stuff around the house.

It’s the reason she is never home, she always goes out to play football after she got home from school and finished her homework. But its whatever, she loves football. She knows she is good at it and always wanted to be better. As long as she can play and practice football, she doesn’t really care much about her home life.

She opened the door and creep into the kitchen, her parents are in the living room. She was tired and hungry, but it seems like eating will have to wait again until the shouting stops and her mom makes something for her. Usually she just fell asleep and eat in the morning anyway.

So she went to her room and getting her stuff ready for school tomorrow, she went to the local school near her. They have a football team but she was not a part of it, because they need to pay for the lessons and she is not ready to asks her dad or mom about it yet.

But it doesn’t stop her from daydreaming about playing in a team, either it’s a school team or in a club.

She fell asleep imagining her future life and dream, that feels like will never happens, but damn if she will try.

She was jerk awake by her mom, she usually wake up alone. So this only means that either she somehow overslept or something important is happening, and by the look of darkness from her window she guessed it’s the later.

Rubbing the sleep off of her face she saw her mom’s tired look and puffy eyes.

“get ready Juli, pack your things and let's go.” Lupita said with a whispered tone

Juliana got a feeling that something is wrong, but she doesn’t asked her questions out loud and started to do what she's told.

And by the time the sun was peeking through that day. Juliana and Lupita are on their way to a new life far away from her dad. She never knew what happened and doesn’t really want to know.

They moved to the states, and found their way to Brooklyn. Lupita got a job from a nice old woman from the city in her café. And Juliana moved to a public school where she joined a team for the first time in her life.

Her coach really like what she saw in her that she gave Juliana all the guides she can and train her in everything she knew about the sport. Because she can see only Juliana loves the sport as much as she does and she thought it will be a sin not to nurture the kid to her full potential.

She became her mentor and over the years Juliana became the best player in the age group well above her own. But because of the lack of players she never been able to compete in the school league until middle school. Where she met someone who will change her life forever.


	2. Valentina's Start

A five years old Valentina was cheering her sister on from the stand, she jumped excitedly while screaming her sister name’s whenever she got the ball. Even when she doesn’t know what is going on or who is winning, she is just excited to see that her sister was so cool on the field with her jersey. Turning around and talking excitedly to her stepmom Lucia and her brother Guille.   
Eva lost that match. She was angry and decided to quit football altogether. But it was the first time Valentina has ever seen her sister played and she was so inspired that she wanted to be just like her. She keeps talking about how cool Eva was on the ride home, much to the annoyance of the pre-teen that’s sulking since she got in the car.  
As soon as they got home, Valentina waited for her dad to get home from work. Its going to be a long wait as her dad usually get home around 10, and the child doesn’t even know that, 10 is way pass her bedtime. She just keeps waiting while the thoughts of being really cool in jersey and kicking ball just like her sister did just earlier swirling in her head, her excitement keep her up.   
Her thoughts were interrupted when her dad come through the door, looking a bit surprised by his princess still up way passed her bedtime.  
“what are you doing still up princess, its already passed your bed time.” Leon said scooping up the little girl and moving them upstairs to her room.  
“Dad, dad I want to play football just like Eva. You must see her; she was really cool. Please dad I want to play football too.” She said as her dad put her down on her bed and smiled at her.  
“Oh really? I’m sad I missed it then.” He covered her with her blanket, and giving her the stuffed animal, she can’t sleep without. “do you really want to play football?” he asked getting on her knees to look at her in the eyes  
She nodded with face full of determination and serious eyes  
He smiled and said “Okay then, lets see what we can do about it tomorrow.”   
“But.” He continued as she closed her mouth from what must have been the start of excited screams and looked at her dad with that adorable serious face again  
“You must promise me something, will you keep this promise?” he asked with a serious look on his own face.  
She nodded again  
“Promise me that you will do your best in football, no matter what the weather is or how tired you are or that Eva doesn’t do it anymore. As long as you love football, even if you lose or you win. You will do your best okay?”   
“I promise” it is a weird one that she doesn’t really understand yet.  
“Okay, Lucia will bring you tomorrow after school.” He kissed her goodnight and leave the room after hearing a thank you from his little angel.  
~  
The day after, Lucia picked her up from school and they went to a youth football club in the city. Because she still can’t join the school team yet as she was still too young. Valentina got registered and Lucia brought her to a sport store for kids looking for her first football shoes.   
So, from that moment on, little Valentina’s days consist of school and straight to the club to practice until sunset comes. She does her homework between practices, and she keeps on practicing well after the club practice is done. It was a really tiring schedule for the little girl but she always finished her days with a big smile on her face at dinner telling stories of her practice that day.   
Over the weeks she already starting to divided herself from her peers in the club, she started to be better than the others her age. And her coaches saw the talent she got and started to give her that little bit of extra push, and little bit of extra training.  
Months goes by and her coach already put her with an older peer so she can start to get the challenges she needs to be better. not too long after her 6 years birthday she made it into the team and get to start getting experience from the kids league. And little by little without her knowing, she fell in love with football.   
~  
5 years goes by, her practice only gets harder and harder. And she falls in love with it deeper and deeper. She goes to practice 6 days a week, and sometimes 7 if she can get away with it. she loves the feeling when she scored a goal, or learned a new trick, or using said tricks in a game.   
And all of that hard works has brought her here, today. In the semifinals of the U14 New York League. 11 years old girl playing with 13-14 years old are something quite unusual. At these ages, age difference matters a lot. But she already proved herself to her coaches and all she has to do was give her best.  
She played well, really well. She scored 2 goals and make some important passes too, but the opponents are there for a reason. The score was 2-2 when she got tackled to the ground trying to make a play, early in the second half. She fell hard and hit her face on the ground. Resulting in a bloody nose and her coach decided substitution are in order. The referee gave a yellow card to the player and awarded her team a free kick. She felt really mad when her coach benched her. She wanted to play more; she can still keep going. So why not? Surely, they needed her to win, so they can go to the final and be the champion. She learned early on that she loves winning. There is this feeling, maybe satisfaction or something else she doesn’t really know. But she likes it, and it’s a prove that she actually a good player. Most of her old friends mocked her for playing football all the time and the boys keeps saying that she probably really bad anyway. She just felt unwelcome sometimes from her peers, but she knows as long as she is having fun playing football it doesn’t matter what they think. But right now, she’s not having fun. Right now, she was sitting on the bench and watch from the sidelines hoping that her team can win so they can play in the final.  
The match ended and they lost 4-2, the team crumbled without Valentina there. Her coach expected that was going to happen, even when she is the youngest and the smallest on the team. She is still the best on the field today, she is the one that was giving her all, trying her best and never stopped chasing the ball until it crossed the line. But her teammates don’t share the same feelings towards football as her, they don’t do all of the things that Valentina does, they don’t give their all in the game. Yes, it is sucks too lose, but its not the end of the world for them. They just moved on and forget about it in a week, maybe even by tomorrow.   
She was silenced the ride home. Lucia said something about her playing great or something, she just doesn’t hear it. Too lost in her own head, keep replaying the moments. Over and over again, thinking all of the things she could’ve done to avoid that tackle. If she’s a little bit faster she could do it, if she’s not too focused on the ball she could do it, if she’s had a trick that she can do in those situations she could do it.   
That night was the first night since she started football, she doesn’t talk about football in dinner, she doesn’t talk at all. She was drowning in what if’s and should’ve been, blaming her teammates, her coach, and mostly herself inside her head. Until she realizes that losing sucks, and she cried herself to sleep that night.  
~  
She woke up feeling too warm, and quickly realizes she’s not alone on her bed. Her dad was cuddling her. She rolled over and see his eyes looking back at her, then yesterday comes crashing back and her tears started anew.   
He let her cries and wiped her tears a couple minutes later and said “So, bad things happened. You feel so horrible and sad that you think the world is going to end any second now, its okay. Its okay. Its okay to feel that way.”  
She was confused, how does it okay to feel like what she is feeling like yesterday.  
“Look for the lesson in it. the question is, when those bad things happen, what are you going to do about it? are you going to fall over and cry, and fall apart and give up? Or are you going to take those horrible feelings, embrace it. don’t look away from it, but own it. get up and step up to the challenge, take that next step and keep going.”  
She’s hanging on her dad’s every single word now  
“Now that you have fallen. Are you going to be better? because no matter how many times you have fallen and will fall. Look up. Get up. And don’t ever give up. So when the time comes, you won’t be feeling the same again.”   
That makes her cracked a small smile, she knows that she will do it. so, she promised herself that. She will always be better so she doesn’t feel the way she felt yesterday again. And even if she does, she will not give up. Because she loves football, and feeling that way about something she loves so much is just wrong.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay next chapter

Today is the day, Juliana woke up an hour earlier than what she was used to. Or maybe she hasn’t slept at all from the excitement for today.

Today is the start of the New York girl soccer league. and she is beyond excited. She’s been preparing for this since she heard about it.

Even after all these times she still stick with the sport, her mom thought she will grow out of it by now. But the reason for playing now is totally different from when she started kicking the ball in the first place. now, this is not an excuse to pass the time and run away from home anymore. It’s become the reason she gets up in the morning and she loves it.

Joining the school soccer extracurricular was the first thing she did when she got into middle school. There weren’t many girls for them to make a team but they managed. For the practice, they do it together with the boys that has a lot more participants and only one coach available. But she loves it, especially playing with the older boys at practice.

In the back of her mind she knows she is good, her teammates said it, the boys said it, her last teacher said it, her coach said it, even the adults in her neighborhood that she sometimes played with said it. but she loves the challenge going against someone who is better than her.

Losing to a good opponent always makes her excited, it means she can still improve. She always thinks if they can do that, of course she can too she just need a bit of time practicing and the pasts examples proof that. And getting better means better opponents which means more fun games to play.

Her team consists of her and 5 other girls that is really in the team, the rest are just fill ins that’s currently carrying out their punishments from various crime they did in school, maybe they never even touch a ball before. But Juliana doesn’t dwell much on the state of her team. As long as she can play, she is happy.

She walked out from her small bedroom to the kitchen to make herself a breakfast. Her mom had a late shift last night so she probably still at the hospital or she’s sleeping. They rarely have time for each other lately, with her out of the house and on the field practicing all day but as long as she keeps her grades her mom doesn’t mind.

Lupe with the help of the nice old lady that own the café she first work for, enroll in a vocational nursing program. So, after a hard couple of years juggling work and training, she now works as a nurse in Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.

She loves her mom’s new job, even if sometimes she works late and she has to cook her own breakfast like today. But the perks far outweigh the negatives in her mind, because she can now be in the school team and she got a new football shoes for her last birthday. They even moved to a better apartment, and they don’t need to share a room together anymore. She got her own room now, no matter how small it is, it’s her.

She finished her eggs and milk before going to the bathroom to get ready. 20 minutes later she got out of the front door and started to jog to school. It’s not that far according to her, as she used to run in the early morning since the time when she can’t continue a game because apparently, she didn’t have enough stamina to play 2 games in a row after practice. Yes, it is 2 games but it’s a U12 games which goes for 30 minutes each half, and that means she wouldn’t be able to play for a full real game with extra time. And that just didn’t sit right with her.

So, she asked her coach the next day what she have to do so she can play longer and not get tired as fast. And he looked at her with a bit of surprise but told her that some exercise such as running is good enough for kids her age, and that she should ask him if she wanted to do something different.

That’s how she started doing her morning run around the park near her home before going to school. But today her coach told her not to do too much exercise from 2 days ago, so her body can rest before the big match. But a jog is not a big exercise, she thinks.

~

The school couldn’t finish fast enough in her mind, it feels like somehow the time moved slowly just to mock her. But it’s done now, and she is bouncing on the ball of her feet with excitement on the field waiting for her team and coach to come so they can go to the field where the first few matches will be held.

It is the opening of the season for the league and they made some kind of ceremony or something like that where all the teams that will compete in the league meet each other. It's mostly for the parents her coach said, but she doesn’t really care. It’s the perfect timing to meet with the other kids that will be her opponents. and she just can’t wait to play.

When all of them got there, her coach called them to huddle up.

“So today will be the first day of the season, and there will be a ceremony first before a few of U14 boys and girls match starts. Once we are there, I want you all not to get away from the group because there will be a lot of people there. And I mean thousands, because not only your division is going to be there but every division from U8 all the way to U16 so I expect you girls to be in your best behavior.” He said meeting their eyes one by one letting them know that he is serious.

“Yes coach!” they all said in unison

And after telling them what to do if they got separated there, they all got into the school bus and get going

~

They got out of the bus and Juliana immediately feels more and more excited, because they just arrived at the red bull arena. And she’s still trying to wrap her head around it, looking up at it from the parking lot is a bit intimidating. And every step she takes makes it looks bigger and bigger, okay maybe more like quite intimidating.

And there was so many people, and kids with their own jerseys. Coach is probably right, there must be thousands of players here, and some with their parents. There are even stands for food and stuff.

‘Okay focus Juliana, you come here to play.’ She said to herself inside her head. ‘Oooh that little girl is so adorable with her little jersey sitting on her sister’s shoulder eating ice cream like that’

“Juliana! Are you coming or what?” she looks to the voice calling her name and her team was already a good 15 feet ahead from her, so she jogs to catch up to them.

She needs to be more focus and she don’t want to anger her coach again. The last time she did that he refused to let her train and instead told her to do a homework instead. That was really annoying because when other people get punished, they usually get to run or a push up, but her coach said you are not supposed to enjoy the punishment. So never again.

About half an hour later, all the team and their coach makes a single line with other teams makes the same line beside them on the field. And some old guy gave a welcome speech and all of what they expect of this season and the tournament for the best 32 teams that season in the last month

But Juliana doesn’t really hear all that as she was busy looking left and right to her soon to be opponents. all she plans to do is win and play more games, surely winning means you get to play more.

After the ceremony they all was supposed to go to the seats above to wait for their match, as in they are lucky enough to be one of the team that have a game that day. But it seems like Juliana can’t seem quite make it there, as she was distracted then got lost trying to get there.

But she knows how to get to the field and when her team is going to play so she can just wait for that time to meet with her team again. With the unexpected opportunity to explore and see more she decided to use that to the full advantage and began to walks in random directions.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all mistakes are mine

Valentina was already in a bad mood since the morning, first, her dad has to cancelled on her saying that he can’t be there with her when they went to the stadium with her school team because of an emergency at work, but he knew she will do well. But she was already looking forward for her dad to see her plays since last month, because nowadays it seems only her driver Alerio that comes to her games.

She knows that she can’t be mad with them because they have their own things they do now, but it's still sucks for her. Well at least she still has Alerio her driver, which brings them to the second thing that puts her mood down today.

Alerio got sick so she got another driver that was late too picked her up that means she will be late to get there; she should’ve taken the over for going with some of her teammates on the bus. But she was thought Alerio was going to pick her up and she was going to have at least one person she knows watch her first match.

After the opening ceremony where she was late and somehow found her team and discreetly join them at the back of the line, she got a bit of the stink eyes from her teammates

It’s not a secret to her that most of her teammates don’t really like her.

She’s really passionate about the game and sometimes she takes it too seriously. okay, most of the times.

And because of her position as the central midfielder, she was the one who dictate the tempo of their plays and the game, she was the one who orchestrated their attack as close to perfection, and she was the one who disturb the other team's plays and makes sure they won’t get too close to the goal.

She does a lot, and everybody knows that she's the most important player in the team, and she has the skills to back it up that makes her the best player on the team.

But despite of her amazing dribble skills, or her ability to track people and steal the ball from them quickly, or her passes are always on point no matter how far it was, or she can just score with her unbelievable accuracy, and last but certainly not least her brain that can think of some really unthinkable yet amazing plays on the spot and execute it perfectly. Despite all that and so many more reason, she still doesn’t get the respect she deserves from her teammates.

They always knew that she was the best among them even being a couple of years younger than the team, she could play in the U17 rooster and no one will dispute the fact that she will be the best player on that team. Heck despite her height disadvantage, she will carry them to victory with her brilliant mind and passes alone.

They saw it happened on several occasions these last few months, every time they finished their skirmish with the older team, coach will tell her to continue playing with the older teams. Lately she even started to play with the U19 boy team and she still making impact in the game. The only drawback on those games are her smaller legs, she can still keep up with their speed but with those short legs she always gets tired first

She was really a genius on the field, and they hate that the word won’t do her justice. And they hate to admit it but they knew firsthand how bad and demanding and long her practice sessions are. It’s just impossible for a sane person to do that kind of practice every day.

But she does it without complains, and it shows every time she’s on the field.

They were jealous of her, not just because of her talent, but because the work she puts in with those already amazing talent she has. And they hate it, and the fact that coach gave the youngest and smallest girl the most important role in the team.

Especially what she does with the position given. Like it or not, she does kill the position. Her passes are always amazing, they always play with the tempo she set, and they always win with her on the field. With all of these amazing feats the skill difference between her and the team is quite high. And it just makes the other girls feels hopeless or underappreciated playing with her, because she always has the attention of everyone when she was on the field. Not to mention sometimes they just cannot keep up with her pace and plays.

It’s the little things that piles up over time that makes her so disliked by the u14 team and some others. Her coach noticed it, and did the best he could to make them see her as a team but in the end it just doesn’t work. But for him, his priority is to put a solid foundation for every skill she could absorb so she can be the best version of herself. He knew that his own team won’t be able to keep up with her and they will just be holding her back.

He can only hope that she gets to meet a team or at least a teammates that can keep up with her and most importantly that keeps reminding her why she fell in love with the sport in the first place, hopefully she met someone before all the bad things in the team takes over and she can’t see the good anymore and leave for good.

For now, he will put her in the U14 for the season before moving her up to the U17 next season and that will teach the other what does it like to lose a good player in the team. Hopefully they will learn something from this.

~

After the opening ceremony was over, her mood was slightly lifted at the prospect of playing a match in a few hours. Coach already told them to go to the field 40 minutes before their match for warm ups and last minutes game strategy reminder.

Valentina got some free time in her hands, and she don’t think spending it with her team will do any good for her so she decided to check on the stands at the parking lot she ran past when she came in. most of them sells snacks and drinks, and some sells football related stuff.

After getting herself a little snack, she decided to search for a quiet place to enjoy it before the match, as the stands are getting crowded by the minute, and she would like to sit down while eating. She found an empty hall and decided to sit there.

After most of her snack was done, she heard a footstep coming, thinking the person will just pass her by and continue where they were going, she was a little bit surprised when the footsteps stop close to her and sat down on the floor beside her.

She looked up and saw a girl maybe around her age with dark hair and wearing a black and white jersey. After a few seconds of silence, she decided to just let the girl be and tried to take her last bite.

“Are you lost?” The girl suddenly asks

“No, are you?” she answered a little bit annoyed by the interruption of her last bite

“I saw you came in late at the ceremony and I just passed your teammates back there, so I thought you are lost and need some help.” The girl explained

“No, I just want to be alone right now.”

“Okay sorry, I was just trying to help. But okay” She makes a move to stand up

“Wait!” she doesn’t know what makes her say that, but since its already been done maybe she can just continue and deal with the embarrassment later.

She sat back down and asks “So?”

“Sorry, I just, it's just” she sighs and continued “I don’t know why but my team doesn’t really like me, I don’t understand it, it’s like I’m from another planet or something. And we are supposed to be a team and…” she stopped noticing that the girl just stared at her, probably thinking she was a crazy stranger.

“I like your hair.” She said

She let out a small smile “Thanks” that was the first time someone her age compliment her about something, or maybe not she just couldn’t remember

“Hey don’t stare at me, I’m just...” She stopped and look at her hands in front of her embarrassed “Juliana” she finished with a small voice

Valentina smiles “Well hello Juliana, I’m Valentina just Valentina” she teased and gives her hand out for Juliana to shake.

“So where are your team?” Valentina asks

She got embarrassed “Well that’s the thing actually, I’m...” She said and whispered the last part that Valentina couldn’t hear

“I’m sorry what was that?”

“I got lost, I’m lost okay!” She squeaked and hid her face behind her hands

Valentina blinked surprised and then suddenly she laughs loudly much to the embarrassment of Juliana


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this one takes a bit of time

They ended up talking in the hall until Valentina excuse herself to get ready for her game, after wishing each other good luck they went back to their own team.

Juliana searched for her team on the audience seats and walked to them, she wanted to watch her new friend Valentina play. They talked and hit it off like they were best friend just reuniting, which is strange for her but a welcoming change.

Juliana’s eyes are on the field looking out for the girl with the white with pink stripe jersey. She found Valentina easily enough as she seems to be the shortest player on her team something that she noticed they had in common. She waved but it doesn’t seem like the girl saw her.

Watching Valentina plays just makes her really jealous and excited, seeing the way she controls the ball and by extension the game, or the passes and crosses she gave was something Juliana only saw on TV where it’s a battle between two top divisions teams.

And she wanted that, she always wonders how much fun those kinds of game will be. The game looks so one-sided, and it pisses her off when Valentina’s teammates started to not chase the ball that should’ve been easy. It seems like slowly they started to stop trying, she looked at Valentina and glad to see that she was still trying her best even with the big lead they secured. In fact, she looked annoyed by her teammates too, she even snapped at one of them if her hands gestures mean what she thinks she means.

It’s quite funny to see the smallest girl tried to make her team play seriously and get annoyed when she was ignored. But she appreciates what Valentina was doing, she’s been on the losing team most of the time. There’s only so much 1 person can do in a sport where you need 11 people to play, but it feels good to know that the opponents are taking you seriously.

The game ended far too fast for her liking, watching Valentina play was really entertaining and it makes her more excited for her own game. Valentina’s team won with the score of 5-1, all of their goal started from her feet and plays but she only scores 1 herself, it was right after the opponents scored. Juliana can tell that she was really unhappy with that goal by looking at her face, and not even 3 minutes after her opponent scored, Valentina scored her own goal from outside of the box after getting through 2 girls that marked her. After that her teammates seem to try a bit harder to chase the ball.

She wanted to congratulate Valentina for her win but she didn’t get the chance to, as her coach called them to the locker room to get ready for warm ups for their own game

While they were warming up, she saw Valentina sitting on the seats behind the goal, and they exchanged a wave.

She’s playing against a good team according to her coach, they even got enough points to played at the tournament last season.

They posed for the photos and did the team pep talk, then they went to their own position.

Juliana went to the circle to kick off as she was the striker.

A few second before the whistle she closed her eyes, took a deep breath tilting her head back facing the skies before blowing it out and slap her face with both of her hands. She didn’t know when or how it started, but for as long as she can remember she always did that before the match start. It just helps her focus.

It was a really hard match for them, their opponents are clearly better than them in every single way. And it shows when in the five minutes of the game they scored their first goal, and their second ten minutes later.

Fifteen minutes in, they were behind by two and they haven’t even got a single chance to attack yet. but it came five minutes later when the enemy made a bad pass and her friend took it and made a long pass to her, she really hate to waste a chance so after a long drive and a one two with a teammate then defeating three defenders she put the ball on the far post corner that the keeper has no chance of saving.

That was a great goal and comes in a nice time, as after that they played a lot better than before, its like the other suddenly feels like it's not that hopeless after all and they could actually win. She scored two more right before the half time whistle blew bringing the scores to 3-2 in their favor. The last goal she scored she saw a glimpse of Valentina cheering her on, and that bring her more energy for the second half

But the second half wasn’t going as well as they hoped, it’s hard to get the ball to her when they have 3 girls marking her almost all the time. And they scored two more goals in the second half taking back their lead. She almost got an equalizer at the stoppage time but it hit the bar. in the end, they lost the game 3-4 which actually went better than her coach and her team’s expectation.

Disappointed, but the game was amazing, and she can’t stop smiling even though they lost, she just can’t help it. in the back of her mind she knew that she should feel bad for losing, but she’s just too excited after playing a match like that. Losing a game always motivated her, and her mind was racing with ways she could’ve done better for the next match.

The teams went to the locker room, while she still stuck there. Thinking and enjoying the moment while it still there, she always loves the game. And playing no matter when and where, just makes her wants to play more. After a moment she started to walk to the locker room too

Her coach was talking with someone she never saw before, they noticed her walking closer and her coach gestured her to come closer.

“This is Juliana, the one I keep telling you about.” Her coach said turning to the older man

“Juliana this is, my friend Brian Scott.” they shook hands

“Say Juliana, what do you want to do when you grow up?” he asked

“I don’t know, I just love to play football I guess.” She answered not sure why he would ask that

“do you know that you can just play soccer professionally?” he smiled

She looked at him with confusion “isn’t that only for the boys that plays really good?” she asked as she never seen a girl plays the games on TV

He laughed “Dear, there are women clubs and championships, they even have a women’s world cup. Who knows maybe you can even be the first to play in the men’s team?” He explained

“But that’s just for good players, right? Are you sure you got the right kid? I mean we never won against anyone before.”

“well… what do you feel right now after you just lost?”

“sad I guess.” She shrugged

He shakes his head “I meant what do you really feel after you missed that last shot and heard the whistle? I’m sure sad people doesn’t grin like that when they just lost.”

She thought about the moment he talked about, she always experienced that when she lost which considering her schools’ teams are a lot. He still waiting for her answer so she said “I felt… I feel excited and disappointed but mostly excited. I feel like if I played a bit better than we can win and play more”

“Juliana, I brought Brian here because I thought you will need a full attention from someone who can help you train and bring you to your full potential.” Her coach explained

“Why? Can’t I just continue train with the team like usual?” she asks confused

“yes, you could, but with the way things now you are not going to be the best as you can be, and as a coach and someone who loves soccer, I wont let that happen. but I can't just give you a different training than everyone else, hence why I asked Brian for help. Besides don't tell me that you don’t want to be better and you feel like the practice now is too easy. I know you practice alone every chance you get, im just offering a guide to help you get there” He smiled

Juliana looked at Brian seems to be judging him

“Just because he looks old, doesn’t mean he is a bad coach Juliana. He used to play and coach a lot of teams”

With Juliana still looks unconvinced, Brian smiled and said “I tell you what, if you are actually half as good as your coach tell me you are, and if you survived my training. in a couple of years you will play with the best team in the country competing to with the best of the best in the world, I promised you, I will get you to the door.”

Hearing that she does feel intrigued, but still a little bit unsure. “what about team practice? And the season just started should I skip that too?”

“You will still finish this season and train with the team, but you won’t be training alone anymore after team practice instead you will meet Brian and train with him. After the season finished, I think it will be best if you just focus training with Brian and stop training with the team altogether”

She wanted to protests but her coach still not finished “Juliana, to be honest. Right now, we are just going to hold you back, and if you still want to play with the best of the best like you said to me. You need to be the best too, right?”

She nodded; she does need to be the best if she wanted to play with the best.

“Okay then good, can you tell your mom to come and meet me on Monday if she can? So I can explain it to her too.” Her coach said

They said their goodbyes with Brian after they worked out the time and place to meet for their first practice.

After changing out of their sweaty jersey, they went back to watch a couple more matches before their coach calling it a day and they went back to school. She did searched for Valentina when they got back to the bleacher, but the girls seems to disappear. A little bit disappointed that she didn’t get to say goodbye to Valentina, but after looking at the way she played. She thinks they will meet again throughout the season.

There was this weird giddy feeling in the bus from all the girls, she feels like maybe they are motivated after looking at all the other teams and played a good match. Maybe they will train a lot harder after they got back to school tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> still trying to learn a better way to write a story,


	6. Chapter 6

Valentina was sitting on her chair in her last class of the day, she sat at the back of the class near the window looking down at the street of Manhattan. She was drowning out the teacher that was reminding them about the assignments of the day and prepping them for high school as this was their last year of middle school.

Bored out of her mind, while the clock seems to moved slower than usual. She takes a look over her class, it seems all of them was bored too, or had their mind and attention to the near Christmas holiday that’s coming up in a couple of weeks.

Her mind began to wander too, back at the Fall last year. Back at the tournament that started this whole exhausting year for her.

They won the league that fall, even winning the playoff. It was such a mixed experience for her, winning the league altogether was a really happy feeling and fulfillment that makes her thought that all of her hard work was paying off.

But it's not without its struggles too. Close to the end of the league, the hostility she felt in her own team was getting to the point where some of them just ignore her altogether on the field. Yes, the coach yelled at them for not playing as a team, but in the end even he doesn’t have a choice but to benched her or not to start her. What can you do with a person that was basically ignored by the other 10 girls that supposed to be her teammates.

So, at the last couple of games that’s what she did, she sat on the bench until the last 20 or 30 minutes before she got in and try to win the game for them. Since the first time she got benched her plays and attitude completely changed on the field too, she is more focus on winning the fastest way possible even if she had to scores the goal herself, and she even more vocal with her team. It’s like both sides stop pulling any punches to each other, even her first cursing was done in a match to her teammate.

That night she cried to her sister about it, telling her all of what has happened with her and the team that she purposefully left out during dinner conversations. Eva was silence and just hugged her until she fell asleep on her lap that night.

The day after, Valentina, Eva and Leon their dad goes to the club and went to searched for a new one she can join. She even stopped practicing with her school team, it was a hard thing for her to do. But everyone in her family says that the most important thing is for her to be able to have an environment that she can feel safe to practice in.

Which was really frustrating for her, because in her head practice is practice. And sure, her team doesn’t like her that much, but surely, they will like her eventually right. But they don’t see it that way, her dad even considering the idea of hiring a coach just for her. But she immediately refuses it as she won’t be able to play if she doesn’t have a team. And in the end, they agreed to let her get in a club, but when the team started to alienate her she have to tell them so they can search for another one.

So, since that day almost a year ago, she has been to 4 different clubs all around the city. Besides not having a friend it was a good experience for her. She got to play with a lot of different teams. Some are in her own age group, where she immediately outshines them and get bored. Some are years above her, where after sometime passed they just don’t like it when they have a younger player that was a lot better than them.

Her last team, she had to played 5 years up. It was challenging at first and she was loving it, but after she got used to the pace of the game, it's slowly but surely molding into her game. And after the usual she decided to try what her dad’s idea that he proposed about getting a personal coach, it’s only been a week but it seems quite okay for now.

The bell rang bringing her back to the classroom that suddenly given life by the bell. She got her things and went to her locker to store them, before going down a couple of flight of stairs to the front door and to the bustling city waiting for her driver to pick her up.

It was a free day for practice, as her coach said he needed to do something somewhere. even there was no coach that day, she was still planning to go to the field or maybe to a park and play with random people.

Because of the time she put into practice and football she doesn’t have many friends, well more like some acquaintances and lab partners but that’s it, nobody to hang out with after school. It was a bit lonely sometimes for her, just like today where she found herself with nothing to do. But most of the time she doesn’t mind it at all, as she was having too much fun playing and practicing football.

She saw the town car coming up and stopped in front of her, getting in she greeted Alerio and telling him that she wanted to go to the park for a few hours before going home.

~

She got home as the sun was going down, tired and dirty just like usual. She went to the kitchen and took out a water bottle and going to the living room to lay down for a bit.

Eva was reading a book on the sofa said “Val, go shower first before you make the room smell.”

She just ignored her sister and closed her eyes

Eva rolled her eyes and continued reading

The phone rang, Eva poke her with her foot signaling her to get up and pick it up as she was closer. After a couple of second with no response from the younger girl she got up and answered to the phone.

“it’s for you Val.” She said with a bit of confusion

She looked at her sister with the same confused face but taking it anyway

_“hello” _she said

_“Hai this is Michelle French from the USWNT U20 coach. Is this Valentina Valdes?”_

Hearing that she suddenly sat up straight _“Yes this is Valentina.”_

_“So Valentina, there was a lot of recommendation coming to me from a lot of different coaches telling me why I should bring you along with the team next year for the U20 Women World Cup. But you are still just what 13 years old turning 14 in a couple of months?”_

She gulped _“Yes bu..”_

She continued ignoring Valentina words _“But I want to see for myself, I want you to prove to me that all of those words not just that, words. Can you do that Valentina? Will you come to camp early January? If you are as good as what they say you are, who knows, maybe you’ll even have a spot in the team.”_

She was stunned and can just say some shorts answers after that.

Five minutes later after the details and telling her to expect the next phone call to her parents, she hangs up the phone still stunned. Eva looked at her from the corner of her eyes, until suddenly she just burst with a high-pitched squeal and bear hug Eva, much to the older girl protests about the smell. But after she told her what the phone call was about Eva congratulated her and hug her back with a small smile on her face whispering how proud she was for her little sister.

That night she just couldn’t sleep till the late hours, she was just too excited and keep thinking about what will it be like, who’s going to be there, and what are the training going to be like. Will she meet a new friend, can she make a friend, or maybe she even meets someone who was the same age as her, that would be a dream for her. Hours later she fell asleep with a small smile on her face.


	7. Chapter 7

In a small field near the water, Juliana was doing drills like there’s no tomorrow. Only Brian shouts of encouragement and his whistle blows could be heard from time to time.

Juliana was drenched in sweats; people may even think that she just fell into the water.

It was an intense work and drills that Brian tells her to do, she wasn’t complaining though. Because she already saw the result and she can’t wait to be better.

She still remembers what was the first week of practice with Brian was like, its feels like paradise. As it was only evaluation and talks about how much better she wanted to be, what are the boundaries she can push, and making training plans.

But after that, they established she wants to be the best as she can be, and not afraid to push her limits. It’s been a real hell since then, she always got home sore and barely be able to move her legs, throwing up and keep going was a common occurrence in the first month.

But after that month, things went better. it's still the same intense practice, but she doesn’t feel like she’s going to die any minute anymore. And she feels a lot better after every practice now. Brian told her it was her mentality that makes her thinks she already at her ‘limit’, and after a month she always still have energy after every practice. 

There are some hard days that makes a thought crossed her mind, why not just stop practice and go hang out. But she always ignores those or even works even harder for thinking like that. And it seems like Brian always knows when she had those kinds of thoughts because he always brings her to a public field to play with some random people or somehow makes her play for another team for a friendly match.

After those games her motivation usually just went right back up, because after she saw how much she’s improved it’s hard not to think that it’s a good practice.

Brian makes sure to give her a really challenging and unique drills too; she really like the one where he gave her a really bad crosses and passes then she has to find a way to score a goal out of those horrible balls in one touch or at most two touches below 3 seconds. It was really hard but it’s the one she always looking forward to the most, it forces her to think outside the box fast, and really brings out the creative ways to take control of the ball and shoot it in a span of seconds.

She still not the best at it though, she can do the best result of it with around 10 seconds average. Which is far too slow to Brian’s acceptable time, she’s working hard to improve that. But doing it too fast will usually result in shooting the ball to the stars, or meeting the ground with her face. Getting there though

Besides that, they practice a lot on all the other different skills she has to have. Like accuracy, shooting technique, ball control, dribble, volley, even some juggling and tricks

It was a long year and a lot of improvement, Brian taught her to be confident on the field too, told her not to over think things and just do it. it’s still a slow going though, she still only uses simple tricks on the field and sometimes it makes her lose the ball where she could’ve easily kept if she just has the confident to use her other advance moves.

After practice was done earlier than usual for the day, she was in the middle of cooling down and her coach was still on the phone since the last 15 minutes. He stopped practice early because of it, it’s making her a bit annoyed because she can still keep going for 2 more hours or maybe more if he lets her.

But Brian seems like doesn’t share the same sentiment as her, with the way his smile getting wider and wider the longer the phone call going. Once in a while he would look over to her, probably making sure she does her cooling down for the day and not continues with practice.

He ended the call and walked over to her with a mysterious smile on his face, it makes her nervous and curious.

The last time he had that smile on was when she was spent after practice and he told her to run to a near field to play for another team in a friendly, it was a team with the same age group as she was, but playing a full match after an intense training was really challenging and draining, her feet felt like jelly and she can barely stand up, it was only her determination and a bit of pride for not wanting to lose that makes her able to play the whole match, they won, but she didn’t scores.

She still feels bad about that, as she thought she was basically useless that day. So now, seeing the same face on Brian as that day, she cannot help the excitement that leaking out in anticipation of potentially a new challenge he had for her.

“Alright Juliana listen up; I have a really good news. You are going to a soccer camp” he said

Confused she asks “Uhh… why?” Brian is a bit unpredictable sometimes, he would always say something was average when it was amazing, he’s hard to impress, and he loves mysteries and surprises.

“Because I said so.” he said with that small mysterious smile, she could still see the excitement in his eyes though, and the way he sounds when he was on the phone making her suspicious.

“Coach Brian, I like you but you need to tell me more than that.” She said back with her own straight face unimpressed with her coach antique

“Your mom is home, right? Let’s just go there and I can tell you both the news.” He said then proceeded to walk to her home ignoring all her questions

~

Juliana was on the park near her home, shooting around a basketball with the kids from the neighborhood. It’s still 5 pm and she had some free time, and going back to the field will take too much time so she decided to just hang out here and do some other sport.

Brian just left the house like half an hour ago. In the end she still doesn’t know much about the camp, all she knows was it’s a two weeks long camp in LA, they don’t sleep in tents, and it’s a chance to get into a rooster for an upcoming competition.

But it must be an amazing opportunity if her mom let her go to the opposite side of the country for two weeks alone. Brian told her to be ready with a list of stuff he told her to bring, mainly her clothes and football gear. The three of them will go to the airport with his car next week, and from there she will fly to LA alone and the people from camp will wait for her there.

It was nerve-wracking for her to travel alone, as it was the first time for her. But her curiosity makes her feels excited, and it’s going to be an adventure. Especially she gets to play football, for her, it’s been too long since she played a match. Practices are great and all, but matches always have these different feelings that she started to miss.

~

The week went by quickly and she found herself standing in the departure gate of JFK airport, with her mom and Brian besides her. Her mom going to go inside with her and making sure that she checked in and meet with the airlines assistance to help and guide her for the trip. As she was still a minor and flying alone.

The minutes went by and it’s becoming more and more real for her, because for the whole week she was a bit in denial after she pried out more information of the camp from her mom. It feels surreal and now, minutes away from her flight, it started to crashed down on her that this is real.

It’s making her emotional and the misty-eyed that she tried to hide. But Lupe seems to know what she was experiencing and comes to her then give her a hug.

“Come here. What’s wrong?” she asked still hugging Juliana in the middle of the busy airport

Juliana doesn’t really know the specific reason she cried, maybe she’s afraid of travelling alone, or maybe she just couldn’t believe that she was going to go to a camp with the best of the best, maybe she feels she doesn’t deserve it, or it could have been any other reasons. So, she just shakes her head hoping that her mom understands it.

“Oh darling…” she let go of the hug and kneel in front of Juliana, holding her face close to her looking straight to her red eyes. She wiped the tears away and said “I know it’s going to be hard, and confusing, and scary. you probably won’t be able to get it the first time, but I know that you will and if for some reason you don’t want to do this anymore, that’s okay, I’ll still love you no matter what.”

They hugged again for a few minutes until she composed herself “alright then, you ready to do this?” Lupe asks with a knowing smirk

She nodded with determination

“let me know when you’re in the plane and call me when you land okay?” she asks again

“Yes, I will.”

“Okay then, go and give them your best?”

“Of course!”

They hugged once more and Juliana started walking with the airlines assistance that has been patiently waiting near them.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay update!!!

Valentina was up early that day, despite getting there late last night the 3 hours difference between New York and Los Angeles still means she woke up at 7 in the morning even though she slept in.

Lucia decided that they both get there a day earlier than her camp supposed to begin so they both got a chance to have a little alone time together. She said it’s been too long since they had girls time, so she decided to accompany her to LA and hang out for a day then check on their businesses here while she’s in town.

They left right after Lucia’s done with the things she needed to do for the day. It was a long and tiring flight, but having your own private jet have its perks. Such as they don’t really need to wait long before going, and having the whole plane for the two of them was nice.

She was drinking her mandatory morning milk at the breakfast bar while waiting for Lucia to get ready so they can go and get breakfast. None of them can cook, and they don’t have helpers in this house as no one really lives here. They just use this house whenever they’re in town for business or vacation, so having a live-in helper was impractical.

After waiting for a few minutes, she saw Lucia coming down the stairs dressed fashionably casual like usual.

They drove a 10 minutes drive to a little café that Valentina loves.

After ordering their orders Lucia turned to her and started to speak.

“Are you excited?”

Valentina nodded “I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

“Of course, you are, Ill drop you off tomorrow before going to downtown. And don’t forget to check again on your things, I can’t deliver something if you forget, I’m flying back tomorrow night.”

“the only thing missing is my cleats, but ill check again later.” She answered

Their food came and they settled to eat in silence for a few minutes enjoying their meal.

“what do you want to do after we got your football shoes?” Lucia asks, they already made plans to get her a new pair of football cleats as her old ones getting too tight

“I don’t know, we could drive around.” Valentina said but continued immediately after seeing the unimpressed look on Lucia face no doubt thinking about the traffic “or we could go shopping?”

Lucia smiled and nodded her approval

And Valentina just let out a relieved sigh

~

Valentina went inside the hotel where they are going to be staying for the next 12 days together, it’s only a couple hundreds of meters north away from the dignity health sports park where they are going to train. it’s the home of the LA Galaxy, one of the more famous football team in the country.

After talking to the receptionist, telling them what she was here for. She left her luggage to them and went to the dining area where the team was supposed to have lunch while waiting for the others to arrives.

She went inside the room and found a bunch of round tables scattered around the massive dining room.

There are a few already occupied and she saw some staff members already having their lunch in the corner of the room.

Maybe around half the girls already here and they are either eating lunch or talking to each other. Looking around just as she expected she was the youngest there, probably the smallest too.

She spotted a girl sitting alone a little further up than the other table looking nervous so she decided being nervous together doesn’t sound so bad and went to greet her.

“Hi, can I sit here?” Valentina asks

The girl with brown skin tone turned around surprised that someone was talking to her, she looks younger than the others she saw before but still older than her, maybe around a year or two. She has a small scar on her forehead, and her brown hair was on a bun.

“Yes of course.” She said

Valentina sat down and extend her hand for introduction “I’m Valentina”

“Mallory but just call me Mal.” Mal griped her hand and smile

They talked for a bit before they went to got some food from the buffet and ate together.

By the time they finished Valentina had learned a lot of the girl, she was two years older than her, she’s from Colorado and more of the football related things like favorite players or positions they plays.

The room got a lot more crowded after they talked some more, a couple more people joined them. And Valentina thoughts maybe this was not so bad.

After a couple more minutes when everyone was done with their lunch, they moved to a meeting room. Valentina and Mal took a seat at the back, they waited and watched for everyone to filtered in one by one.

As the head coach came in, she saw someone familiar on the corner of her eyes, she barely made it and judging by her breath she just ran.

Valentina doesn’t know why the girl needed to run from the dining room, but she didn’t see her while eating just now. Maybe she was late or lost, Valentina smiled to herself and directed her attention to the front where the head coach was

After the room quieted down the coach spoke “Welcome to California everyone, I am Michelle French, your head coach for the U20 National Team. I know it’s almost the end of the year and the holiday was around the corner. But the CONCACAF is right behind it too, so I expect everyone to still works hard.” She looked around the room meeting their eyes “I invited all of you here because I know all 30 of you are the best in the country, and you deserve to be invited here. But only 21 of you deserve to stay at the end of the week and continue to the second week, so I want you to do you best, show us what you got and prove to me why you deserve to be here.” She said

Valentina felt excited and looking at Mal’s leg and her grin she must be excited too, looking around she could feel all of their excitement in the room. She caught Juliana looks changed from a panic to determination, she guesses the girl hasn’t noticed her.

“We are going to start evaluation tomorrow to the end of the week, and I assured you this is going to be the best and hardest week for you yet, some of you maybe wont even last that long and I want to thank those in advanced for making my job easier. Because your physique, technique and determination will be tested and pushed to your limits. For now, we will do a bit of team activities so all of you can get to know your teammates.” Coach Michelle addressed the room

The meeting continued they listen of what they were going to do for the week, what was expected of them, and rules about going out and lights out. Valentina listened and committed them to memory.

After the meeting they were going outside for a game of some sort. They were walking the hall when she saw Juliana walked in front of her alone, she catches up and walked besides her. After a few steps where the tan girl doesn’t say anything or even looked at her, she asked “So, are you lost?”

She saw Juliana whipped her head to her direction trying to say something but stopped when she saw her, and her eyes widen with recognition “Valentina!” she hugged her

Valentina introduced her to Mal and they continued to walk outside.

~

Valentina was tired.

After introducing herself to the group and listening to their introductions, they did some group activities. It was fun and she loves it, all of them was welcoming and even praised Mal, Juliana and her for being so good that they’re there so young.

They went inside for dinner, and it was a lot rowdier than lunch as everyone already knows everyone and there were a lot of conversations.

But after the day, she just wanted to got to her room, take a shower and sleep. They share their room with one other person, and she was really curious who she got for her roommate.

She walked inside her room and found her roommate fresh after shower.

“Well this should be fun.” She smiled

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who are Valentina's roommate?  
and sorry for taking so long to update, i wrote the chapter but wasn't happy with it so i rewrite it, still not happy but it was bearable.


	9. Chapter 9

Juliana woke up early in the morning, with the combination of her daily routines and time difference, she got up at 3am.

After trying and failing to get more sleep, she decided to went out and explore the hotel.

Her roommate was still sleeping judging by the bundle on the bed next to her. She took her phone made her way out the door as quiet as she could.

The corridor was unsurprisingly empty and a little eerie, but still has some charm to it. It was the first time she stayed at a hotel, and it was a nice hotel maybe one of the nicer ones around.

The room was bigger than her room, the bed was amazing, and they got their own TV and there was a mini fridge in there too. She doesn’t dare to take anything though.

She found herself in the pool area of the hotel, she has to learn how to swim sometime soon so she can enjoy the pool when she has the chance again.

She laid down on of the lounge chair and called her mom, wanting to update her on her experience so far. And fulfill the obligatory one phone call a day policy her mom insisted before she left.

After she hang up, she closed her eyes, listening and enjoying herself for a bit before going to take a light jog to wake herself up.

She jerked awake by a noise and a hiss, she opened her eyes to see the skies still dark and turning her head she saw someone was on the lounge next to her nursing their toes.

The girl looked up from her toes smiled at her shyly it was Valentina. “I’m sorry, did I wake you up?” she asked

Juliana shook her head “never mind that, are you okay?” she answered

She looked at her toes “I’m good, totally okay.” She answered cheerfully with a smile but still nursing her toes

“What happened?”

“I was up early so I decided to look around and explore the area, that’s when i saw you here. I just wanted to make sure it was you and asks what are you doing, but I miscalculated my steps and kicked the foot of the lounge chair.” She covered her face embarrassed about admitting her clumsiness.

Juliana sat up and inspected the toes “well it doesn’t look like you have something to worry about, the pain will fade away in a minute or so” she said while massaging Valentina's toes who nodded to her

“Is it better now?” Juliana asks after a couple of minutes

“Yes, thank you. What are you doing here so early?” She asked

“Same like you, woke up too early because of jet lag so I went down here to call my mom and giving her my daily report.”

“Huh, I thought you had a fight or something with your roommate so you camped out here.”

“Nothing crazy like that, I roomed with Mal actually. Who are you rooming with?”

“That’s nice, I got roomed with Rose Lavelle, do you know her?”

“The one that really pale?” she asked still trying to find in her head which one was Rose

Valentina thought for a second “yes that’s the one, anyway I walked in on her dancing to that move move shake shake song on her towel.” She said with a straight face

They looked at each other until one of them snorted and rolled back laughing.

~

They chatted and moved to the gym where both of them got their morning jog, they had a six in the morning workout with the team later but getting you blood pump before the workout seems like a good idea

All of the girls and staffs were grouped up in the lobby by 5:30 and ready to take a walk down south to the pitch.

Going inside the training facility was a surreal experience for Juliana, it was nice and still massive. Even though they didn’t practice at the big stadium but on the second field it's still better than what she was used to, and the locker room was amazing.

She was a bit giddy looking at all of the balls the staffs brought out, it's still like Christmas come early for her, as she was used to only have one ball to practice with.

They started with warm ups and a couple of laps around the pitch followed by little touch and go.

It's only to make their blood pumping before they went to the gym and do some strength evaluation.

They did some lifts and some endurance.

Juliana never lifted before and she had to get used to it really quickly but she held on the endurance the longest.

The trainer told her to stop as it doesn’t look like she’s going to stop anytime soon, even after all the other girls were done. She was the only one that doesn’t look like she just ran a marathon.

She noticed Valentina was one of the last girls to finished, she walked to the girls who was done and laying on the ground getting back their bearings.

“All right girls, that’s it for now. You all are going to have some quiet time before breakfast, after that we are going to have a team meeting.” Their head coach called out to them

“Excited for breakfast?” Juliana asked while taking a seat on the floor besides her

Valentina was on her back on the floor still heaving while closing her eyes with her arm. She took a peek at Juliana who barely had a sweat on her face. “How do you still able stand, that’s just not possible.”

She laughed “Come on, shower time. Everybody’s leaving already, and I want breakfast.”

Valentina just groaned “You go on without me, I don’t think I can make it, just remember me.”

Juliana decides to just let the girl rest for a bit so she sat down beside her and watched as everyone started to went, they’re separate ways. she saw Mal wave at her and motion to her about eating, she waved back and gave her a thumbs up.

A few minutes went by and Valentina sat up, looking around a little lost. “Where’s everybody?” she asks when she saw Juliana was laying down beside her

She sat up too and looking around at the almost empty field, there were some trainers packing up equipment and a few other girls still sitting around resting just like them. “It’s quite time for a bit before breakfast, so I think everyone either in the shower or at the breakfast already.”

“Oh, why are you not there?”

“I figured I give it some time before shower as everyone was going there and I thought waiting here was nicer than in the locker room with a bunch of sweaty girls.”

“And here I thought you wanted my company.” She teased with a small smile

“Oh no, the company was an unfortunate circumstance that I have to endure.” Juliana said and got a slap on her arm

“Well, I do enjoy the company.” Valentina said under her breath

“Sorry?” Juliana asked didn’t quietly heard what she said

“I said let’s go get clean up and to some breakfast. I’m starving here, and after that training I could eat a lot.” Valentina said getting up and giving her hand to Juliana to help her got up, and they walked to the locker room

~

It was late at night when Juliana and Mal went back to their room, they were just at Valentina’s.

After team meeting that morning, they had a team bonding activity where they all went to play mini golf, that quickly turned into competition full of bribery, sabotage, and betrayals. It was a lot of fun for Juliana, even when she was really bad at it.

They went back for lunch and then they had a sport clinic, where they got checked up and evaluated. They were told where’s their strength was and what are their weaknesses, where they can improve and how to improve. They talked with the doctor, trainer, and coach where they gave them a list of exercises to do. doing 30 of that took until dinner where the atmosphere was a lot lighter than yesterday, everyone was laughing and more inclusive. They all slowly become like a big family.

At dinner where Valentina and Rose ask them to join them for a movie night, where the four of them bundled up watching a movie and eating an unhealthy amount of snacks. She doesn’t really know where it came from but she’s not complaining.

The movie finished long ago but they ended up talking a lot, they decided to call it a night when they saw Valentina was struggling to stay awake. So now they walking back quietly to their room hoping that no one saw them this late.


	10. Chapter 10

Valentina was mesmerized by what she saw at their first skirmish against each other, the skills of the players and the level of the plays are in a whole another level from what she was used to. Everyone plays in a quick pace and it was exciting for her, because she can play a lot faster and a bit more complicated set pieces and not having to worry about her teammates stopped because they’re confused on what to do.

Coach Michelle divided them as two teams then picked Rose Lavelle and herself as their team's captain, she basically just dumps it all on central midfielder telling them they have to be the brain of their team when they were on the field and they better start now.

At first, she was nervous to explain her strategy and some quick set pieces to her team, as she was the youngest and she was afraid that the usual treatment would happen here too. But after explaining her strategy, her team was really accepting and said it was a great and simple strategy, and all of them never played it before so they were excited to try. Her strategy was more aggressive as in they will zone and press the ball even when it’s still on the opponent’s half of the field, and some risky short passes to open a chance for a through ball.

The defense was a solid plan, as in their midfielders will press forward and their strikers will help from behind to take the ball when they lost possession. For the short passes in the heart of their defense was risky but she was confident in her skills to be able to get the ball in and out in the middle of the defenders that will try to trap her, she was going to be the bait so they can have some open spaces in other areas of the field.

It was a simple strategy, but needs fast and good passes from the whole team and a good player under pressure with good awareness and ball control to be the bait. She has faith in her team that they have enough speed and passing skills to pull it off, because they have to play as a team and they are only as strong as the weakest member of the team.

She had Mal on midfield helping her with her one twos, to create some space. And Mal was good with her control and shoot that sometimes she just feed the ball to her to try from outside the box, they played well together for their first time playing together.

And she had Lindsey as her forward, she was one of the best players there. She was good with finishing with her head and not wasting her chances, and she had a good judgement on when to release the ball. Valentina was having fun giving her high through passes, or watching her heading the crosses from the wingers.

Defending was fun too, or if she was honest, it was really hard. Rose seems to know right away what to do against her strategy or to be exact, around her strategy. she was sure the girl was smart and could figure out a way to counter her strategy in one or two more match.

She played some fast and long passes to break up the players that were closing in and then take advantage of the spaces left behind to feed the ball with one massive pass avoiding their midfield altogether and right to the defenders. It was not the best counter, but coming up with it on the spot after she realized they weren’t going to get any room to breathe was amazing. The chances weren’t that many and the delivery was unreliable half the time because of the distance and pressures around them, but the target of the passes was extraordinary to say the least, and she was sure everyone noticed.

Valentina doesn’t know how she does it, but Juliana always find a way to finished. She was always there to get the ball, doesn’t matter if the passes were too far or too short or how many defenders were contesting with her, and she never get caught in the offside. Her vision and awareness were something out of the world, if Valentina didn’t know any better, she would say the assistant referee was bias or blind. The small girl was fast with the ball and even faster without. And her skills with the ball was superb too, she either loses her mark or just straight up beat them and some, it doesn’t matter if it was a one on one or a three on one, she just beat them and take a shot. And the girl's shot was always on point, not just on goal but on the corners of the goal.

Watching her play was scary and enticing. How her eyes watched the players around her, how she rarely watched the ball on her feet yet she never lose it, and the tiniest smile etched on her face whenever she made a move that no one in their right mind would dare to use in a game, like who in their right mind kicked a bouncing ball down just to bounced it higher to get it over a defender, watching her play was like watching a dancer lost in their elements and she doesn’t want it to stop.

Valentina was getting more and more excited as the scores keep racking up on both sides, and all of them was relentless. Everyone knows what they were doing and no doubt they are the best in their country in this division. The scores were quite high even by a practice skirmish standard but it doesn’t mean that the defense on both teams were bad. It’s just their attacks were too effective and hard to defend; they were just too unprepared for the other. The built up, accumulation of little plays, Valentina’s strategy and how efficient she was with her players. On the other hand, with Lavelle’s amazing long passes and crosses combined with the little giant on the front, their counter attack was too fast and effective. so, both teams just focused on who can score the most to win and deal as much as they can with their defenses.

As the game coming to an end, Valentina can’t help but noticed that there was a skill gap between some players and the rest. It was still the most fun she ever had in a skirmish and both teams were really good but there are still some people who stood out. Lindsey, Mal, Rose, and Juliana were playing on their own league throughout the game.

She knew that there would be a lot of good player here, and it was the reason she was excited to come. But seeing these girls plays especially Juliana, she was inspired. And she was going to practice harder when she got back home, it doesn’t matter anymore what the other girls on her club thinks. she wanted to be one of the best, she will be one of the best.

Valentina sighed when the whistle blew, she lost by 1 goal difference and she was drained. The game stopped feels like a skirmish around the first 5 minutes and instead it felt like they were playing in a playoff or something. And she could see all of them thought the same thing as her, with how hard and serious they played and the small smiles on their faces after a really good game, or a scary grin that quickly changed to a smile in Juliana case.

Everyone was talking to each other about the game and congratulating each other, and she went to Juliana to give let her know how good she was.

“That was amazing Juls, I didn’t know you could play like that.” She said giving the girl a hug

“It was okay, not good enough though. But you on the other hand, your tactics and passes were amazing. How did you do half of those? I was so jealous looking at those amazing balls I wanted to just shot it to my own goal it was so tempting that I almost did it.” She said in one breath

Valentina blushed she wanted to say something but they got called by coach. And everyone was on a buzz from the game before.

“Well, that was an amazing game and a good showcase for your skills.” Coach Michelle said looking at them. “And those are some world-class level soccer I just saw.” All of them was giddy and proud hearing the praise “Of course there are still a lot of room for improvements, and I expect you work on them on your own time. Because unfortunately we don’t have the time for that, right now we need to focus to be a team so we are ready for the CONCACAF and the world cup, and I know we are going to be the best.” She said

“Look around you, those are the faces of your teammates. And you already saw what they can do, and it was amazing. Now I want you to trust them, I want you to lean on them and be there for them. Because from today until you lift the world cup, you are a unit, a team, one living organism that will die without each other. So, let's be a team.” She finished

It was a nice speech, and it makes them smiles while looking at each other. Without anyone saying it, they huddled up and looking at each other in the eyes still smiling. Putting their hand on the middle and shouted team on top if their lungs.

It was an amazing feeling that sadly she never experienced before, and Valentina was sure that she was going to cherish these moments for a long time.

They did one more skirmish that afternoon with a shuffle on the teams before calling it a day and went back to the hotel for dinner. Overall it was a tiring but fulfilling day for Valentina.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i did it...

It was dark and a bit chilly that night. Two girls were in the pool area way passed their curfew, but as it was their last night there, no one was going to bat an eye, in fact a few moments ago all of the girls were just there celebrating and enjoying each other company before they have to go back home to their separates lives for a few weeks.

The girls were singing and dancing and laughing, it was their last night and their last chance to enjoy their new friendships, because the next time they meet they will have to focus on qualifying for the world cup.

Rose pulled everyone after their team dinner to dance near the pool, and they danced with their aching legs and all. Celebrating that they survived the camp and chosen in the roster to represent their country.

People were just goofing around or snacking, until one by one they were too tired and had to went back to their room for sleep, as some of them had an early flight, and then there’s just two of them lounging around.

They became fast friends, being together with the same focus in mind and doing everything with each other for two weeks really brings them close. Their days basically consist of football, food, sleep and repeat. Beside some occasional team bonding activities, they were mostly on the field playing with balls.

It was a good week for Juliana, it was bittersweet when the first week came to an end. As some of them had to go home early, but learning that she was chosen for the roster was an amazing feeling. Doing something that she loves day in and day out together with people who loves it too was amazing experience for her.

She was at least friend with everyone at the end of the camp, but even inside the whole team there are some people who became best friend. And she found hers in Valentina, it seems like being the youngest and the same age really brought them closer. And they just clicked from the beginning, and they had some kind of rivalries going on when they practiced. So, it was a usual sight to see them together all the time.

The crowds cleared out after saying goodnight and some goodbyes, Valentina was still sitting on the edge of the pool with her legs inside the water kicking it softly. “You live in Brooklyn, right? Why don’t you fly home with me tomorrow? It will be fun, and safer than flying alone.” It was ten minutes ago when Valentina said those words, and since then Juliana was on her phone with her mom trying to convinced her to let her go home with her new friend.

“No mom, I’ll be fine. In fact, it’s going to be safer than flying home alone.” Juliana was pacing near the pool, she answered a lot of questions from her mom’s after she broke the news, some of the were repetitive.

“Yes I know you have your shift, that’s.. that’s why I said it will be easier for you too as you won’t have to pick me up in your lunch time.” She said

“Yes I will call you before, no I won’t ask the pilot to call you, I can't do that..?” she said as she saw Valentina looked at her and nodded to her mouthing 'yes you can' thinking that the girl was just messing with her.

“Yes.” There was a pause where she was listening to Lupe on the other side of the call, and Juliana face just becoming more irritated by the minutes

“No, I won’t interrupt their jobs just so you can interrogate them. Yes, I will call you when I’m on the plane and when I land and when I got home.”

“Yes, love you too, bye.” She hangs up and sighed

“Well.” Valentina asks

“We are going home together.” She smiled, but quickly morphed to an irritated one “but I have to call her basically every hour.”

Valentina squealed and getting up to hug her, “we are going to have so much fun.”

“okay, I need to go pack now. See you in the morning.”

~

Juliana got to the breakfast room dragging her suitcase with her, still looking half asleep.

She found most of the girls were already there with their own luggage, she took a seat near Mal and Lindsey. “Morning.” She greeted

They greeted her and continues with their own breakfast.

Juliana went to the buffet table and started to piling up her own breakfast, in the last two weeks here they mostly had buffet style foods. But all of it still healthy food approved by their trainer as they are still athletes and need to watch what they ate

But to Juliana it was one of the best foods for her, even if she missed home cooked meals in the last couple days. She’s not complaining about the really good food that she can just eat as much as she wants and no one will say anything, in fact all of them ate a lot more than what her friends back home but it makes sense with how much exercise they did on the daily.

She went back to her table and started eating

“Where is Valentina?” Mal asked looking at her, she just shook her head as she hasn’t saw the girl yet. “how about rose?” this time she turned to looked at Lindsey

“She’s gone home already; she had those awfully early flight.” Lindsey said finishing her breakfast

“Oh, that’s sucks I didn’t get to say goodbye.” Mal said

“She said she will see us later, and she can’t wait to kick some asses together.” Lindsey told them

At that time Valentina came in, she wore a big sweater and dragged her suitcase behind her. She walked across to their table and sat without saying anything.

In fact, her eyes still closed and she dropped her head on the table seems like she decided she needed more sleep

“There you are princess.” Juliana said. “I was worried you’ve forgotten about me and left us mere peasant.” She teased Valentina earned herself the nickname over the weeks.

“By the way, are we going to the airport together later? I kinda don’t want to say goodbye yet.” Lindsey said

Mal nodded agreeing with her “yeah, we are going after lunch. what time is your flight?” She asked Juliana but the girl just turned her head to look at Valentina.

“We have to be at the airport around 9.” Valentina said “I don’t think you both want to wait for hours in the airport.” Still with her head on the table

Hearing that Juliana freezes and looked at Valentina with wide eyes. “But Val. Its 8 already, we need to go like right now.” She said panicked

“Yes, I know, that’s why I came her to get you.” She said but still made no indication to move

Juliana jumped up from her chair and hastily finished her drinks, breakfast forgotten. “Well, let's go then. We are late.” She said dragging Valentina up her feet.

They quickly hugged and said quick goodbyes to the people that are there or in Valentina’s case just a half wave as she seems really tired. Juliana pulled her into the hotel lobby before she realized she didn’t know how they are going to get there. She stopped and turned around to Valentina lifting one of her eyebrows in question.

“What?” Valentina asked still looked half asleep

“How are we going to get to the airport?” she asked annoyed with how nonchalant the girl was for potentially being late and missing their flight.

“Oh, there should be a car waiting outside.” She said

Juliana looked outside and sure there was a black SUV parked and a guy in a suit was standing on attention. It was weird for her but he did know of Valentina as he took their bags to put it in the back of the car.

They got in and Juliana whispered “Who is that?”

“I’m not sure, I forgot his name but he works for my dad.” She said shifting her position Juliana suspect she was going back to sleep, she pulled out her phone as it seems like Valentina wasn’t ready to join the land of the living yet.

~

The ride was uneventful but Juliana got a little bit restless when she realized they are not in the LAX, she jabbed her finger to Valentina waking her up.

“Val, I don’t think we are in the right place. This doesn’t look like the airport.” She whispered

Valentina rubbed her eyes and looked outside the window. “Don’t worry Juls, it’s the right place.” She pointed at a small plane just took off. “See? Airplane.” She smirked as Juliana slapped her weakly on her arm.

Juliana got more confused when the driver drove away with their belongings when they got out, before she could say anything it seems Valentina knew that she was going to explain a lot of things for her so she said. “He’s going to deliver our stuff straight to the airplane.”

That made the girl relaxed a little bit, but there’s still something bothering her and she asked. “If our luggage can just go straight to the plane, can’t we just go with it and just wait in the plane?”

Valentina looked at her sheepishly and said. “I’m hungry and still haven’t got my breakfast yet, and I don’t like eating in the air with my ears plugged and feels weird. And I want to check the museum, I’ve wanted to do it since forever but never got the time.” She started walking to a restaurant nearby without looking back to see if Juliana followed her, she was clearly starving

“But we still don’t have the time for museum, right? You said our flight was in an hour. And that was when we were still in the hotel.” Juliana catch up to her, as they got into the restaurant. Valentina already sitting and looked through a menu in her hand. “What about all of the security and other things that we have to go through, we are supposed to be in the waiting room aren’t we?”

Valentina seems to pity her with her near panicked state and she said. “Don’t worry about those, we are going to make it just fine.” She closed the menu and offered it to Juliana in silence question which she turned down with a glare, before she signaled for the waitress. “You trust me, right?” she continued looking at Juliana

“I’m beginning to think that I shouldn’t have.” Juliana said

“Ouch. Juliana,” She reached out and took the pouting girl’s hand. “I’m telling you, that it’ll be okay. I promise that I won’t let the plane leave without us.” She smiled, as the waitress approached their table and she ordered her breakfast, and ordered an ice cream for Juliana when the waitress turned her attention to the girl.

Juliana was unamused and still unconvinced about their situation, but she was willing to see this out. It's not like there was something she can do at this point, as Valentina was stubborn. “You know you can’t bribe me with ice cream and everything will be going to be alright.” She said

Valentina nodded her head once. “I know, I learnt so much this pass couple weeks about you. But that mostly you in the field, now I want to know you as Juliana. Beside it's not really a bribe for the flight situation, its more a bribe for the museum.”

“Val!” She said and winced at how loud she was, “We are not going to the museum with how late we are.” She continued in a whisper. But Valentina just looked at her like she just kicked a puppy with big misty eyes and a pout with her bottom lip trembled a little, Juliana hold their stare for five long second and she knew it was a mistake to look at her before she gave up. “Okay then, we will check the museum.” She sighed, accepting the fact that they both probably be stranded in the airport for a couple of hours.

Valentina quickly gave her a really big smile that probably could split her face in half if she holds it long enough. The waitress came back with her order and an ice cream.

Soon enough the nervousness Juliana had about the plane was pushed to the back of her mind and she just enjoyed the best ice cream she had ever had in her life.

Valentina’s smile was still there throughout the morning, in fact she beamed and pulled Juliana all over the place when they went into the museum. Juliana realized that the girl had a secret love for aviation, she said that when she was a little kid, she wanted to fly a plane on her own.

The morning turned out to be great once Juliana forgot that they were supposed to fly somewhere. and it all came back to her when Valentina got a call, they went outside and back into the airport. It was a different experience for her, as the terminal was more like a lobby and there are no other people around.

She followed Valentina out on the other side through the lobby right to a small airplane. It doesn’t have any writing on the side or the tail. She climbed up behind the girl and whipped her head up when she heard the stewardess greet Valentina by name and the girl greet back.

It makes sense now, the way she wasn’t worried of being late, how the guy just drove away with their luggage, the different airport, or even the fact the plane doesn’t have any writings. She was sure she had some sort of funny expression or Valentina thought it was funny seeing her reaction, with her smirk and eyes full of playfulness. But it was nice that the girl didn’t tease her more, it seems her initial reaction was enough for her entertainment.

The plane was not as small as she thought it was, inside were actually so much bigger and there are at least ten big plushy seats with different arrangement scattered throughout the cabin. And apparently there’s a kitchen and a bedroom somewhere, it just blows her mind. They all had a little idea that Valentina was rich, with how much the girl ordered room service or how she bought out snacks, but other than that it seems like she never gave any other indication. And how they found out more about her when they all decided to googled each other names one night, there was a silence when they realized she was in fact the daughter of Leon Carvajal the owner of a really big company. It was then the nickname of princess was born among them.

Valentina gave her a quick tour around the plane, even the cockpit where they said hello to the pilots before settling into their seats. They played some board games and talked a lot in their flight back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it was late


	12. Chapter 12

Valentina was exhausted, they just landed from an exhausting flight, its faster than commercial airplane but it was still a four hours flight. And they still have a car ride to go through, she hoped the traffic won’t be that bad.

Immediately when they stepped out of the plane, they realized that they had forgotten about the season, and wasn’t prepared at all for the winter. Two weeks in LA with relatively warm weather made them think it was going to be the same in New York, and couldn’t be any more wrong.

After feeling the cold pierced their body, they bolted to a car that already parked waiting for them. Inside the car Valentina immediately seek out something to warm her up, finding nothing she decided to snuggled to Juliana who’s only response to wrap her arm around the freezing girl and moving her hand up and down to warm her up. The drive was uneventful as Valentina fell asleep on Juliana’s arms most of the way to her home.

After dropping Juliana and arrived back home, she quickly went for a shower to fresh herself up before dinner. she started her shower while her mind wandered back to the camp.

Valentina was thankful she decided to go in the end, because just like she told Lucia, she was nervous and scared that she won’t be able to make any friend at all or worse, her teammates doesn’t like her again. The anxiety she felt leading to the camp, even the first few days in the camp was a little too much for her. But she was glad she decided to give it a try in the end.

She met some cool people and made some friends even a really close friend, she had a really fun time with Juliana in camp, as they just clicked and she remembered she was so happy to learn that the girl lives in Brooklyn. And they had plans for tomorrow.

Camp was stressful and fun; her skills was never tested as thoroughly before. She was pushed to her limits and had to overcome it, it was really challenging but seeing everyone there worked so hard just to do the same thing she had to, she was determined to be better. And it shows her how much more she can improve and had to improve.

Coach Michelle made her crammed a lot of tactical information and player information on her head, telling her she had to think quickly on her feet. It seems like coach really wants her central midfield to be the brain of her team, and she was loving the challenge.

So everyday Rose, herself, and two other central midfielders got an hour private theory session where the four of them just study instead of kicking a ball outside with the other. She really likes it though, as she learned so much in that time, and the coaches and trainer always listen to their ideas and work through it together.

She felt how her body actually limit her to do more. She got tired early, losses air balls, and she was always a touch to slow chasing the ball because of her short legs. She tried to close the gap with some tricks here and there, reading between the plays and all that. And she made up for it in other aspects like control, positioning, vision and others and for coach it was enough to put her in the team. But it just wasn’t enough for her, she realized that without those things she would never made the team, maybe not even invited for the camp for a couple years at least.

Juliana was so good at the camp, she’s like this force of nature with the ball. She was everything that Valentina lacks and so much more, she was one hundred percent confident that if the sport could be win by one player alone, then Juliana will be unbeatable, that’s just how good she was. But football is still a team sport, there is just no way a single person can run up and down chasing ten other player, but she was sure the girl would try nevertheless. She already outran all of them by a margin, her physical and skills was the best of them all. 

Valentina just curious on what made her that good, she knew the girl must practice a lot, maybe even more than how much she practices, and she practice too much according to some family members and people that concerned about her health. And tomorrow she will have the chance to see what was it that made the girl so good, yes, they practiced together at camp. But it was more tailored to team drills above all else and doesn’t really shows a lot of individual skills so she can’t help but got another reason to be excited about tomorrow.

They made a plan tomorrow morning to practice together, as both of them was on holiday from school. She will pick Juliana up from her home, or more like she will go to Juliana’s home and go from there.

Christmas was coming up and Valentina need to think on what to get for her new friends. It’s been a while since she needed to get something for a friend let alone friends, its just really made her happy thinking about it. she used to have a lot of friends when she was little, but they weren’t close with her and they didn’t have anything in common. So slowly but surely, she stopped playing with them and when middle school rolled around, she was too busy and absorbed in football that she doesn’t really have time or motivation to make friends.

Now that she made some friends that really loves football just as much as her and doesn’t hate her for it, she was confused on what to give for them. She needed to think fast as the day was just around the corner, and she sent them all over the country. At least she could have more information for a gift tomorrow.

After she got out of her shower, she found Guille and Eva sitting on her bed waiting for her.

“Hey.” Guille greet her while she went into her closet “I thought I heard you coming in.”

“How was camp?” she heard Eva asks, while she search for her pajama, she wanted something comfortable for the rest of the day.

“Wait a second.” She quickly got change and went back into her room and lay down between them.

Looking at Guille excited face and Eva’s more relaxed one she knew both of them wanted to hear her story so she started telling them about how it went, how she met new friends and found herself a best friend, how hard was the training and that she made the team. It took an hour for her to tell them her story, and it was dark outside when she finished and they needed to get dinner, so they moved to said room.

They were on the dining room eating when Guille perked up and said. “Oh yeah Val I forgot to say, we are going to France for a week for the holiday.”

Hearing that Eva whipped her head up and said quickly. “No, we don’t, it hasn’t been decided yet. its either that or we can just go to aspen for a ski trip. But as usual you are the deciding vote, and you need to make a decision now, dad’s want to know as soon as possible so he can make the arrangements.”

“Well I don’t think it’s a good idea to go to France as I have to go to Cayman for the CONCACAF in 9th January. So aspen sounds good, but not too long please I still have to practice and get ready.” Valentina said much to the disappointment of Guille and Eva’s smirks

“well then it’s decided. We are going to aspen.” Eva said

They finished their dinner and Valentina went right back to her room to catch some needed sleep, she was tired and she just couldn’t wait for tomorrow.

~

Valentina got out of the car and told Alerio that she will call him when she was done for the day. She watched him drove off and walk to the door. The building was like all the other old buildings around the area with red bricks, 4 stories with a front emergencies’ stairs. she buzzed the door for the correct apartment when she found Valdes on the list of names.

She waited for a minute before doing it again.

Another minute went by and she pressed the button for the third time, maybe they are still sleeping. It’s not even 7 in the morning after all, but knowing Juliana, it’s highly unlikely for that to happen. The only time she ever saw Juliana slept while in camp was the first morning when she found the girl sleeping near the pool, besides that the girl was always one of the girls that wakes up early. So maybe she went running, that’s the most likely situation right now, so she sent the girl a text letting her know that she arrived, and about twenty seconds later she got a reply telling her to wait. she sat on the steps and waited, she didn’t wait too long as not even five minutes later she saw Juliana around the corner in her track suit and earphone dangling around her neck.

“Sorry, I was enjoying the run that I forgot to check the time.” Juliana said walking up to her

“It’s alright, I didn’t wait too long anyway.” She watched Juliana took out a key and opened the door. She followed the girl into her apartment

“do you want a drink or something? I’m just going to need a minute to take my gear and I need to pee.” She said as she disappears behind a door that Valentina assumed to be the bathroom. “Just help yourself on anything you see.”

“No, I’m alright, thank you.” She answered and started to look around the apartment, its smaller than she expected but its not so small you can just cover the place in three steps. And its homey, there are a lot of photos of little Juliana and her mom, and more photos of her with a ball or on a field. There was no photo of her dad though, so that is a question for another day, as she never heard the girl talk about him either, its usually only her mom that came up in conversation.

“okay I’m ready.” Juliana stepped out of her room dressed with her football short and a long sleeves jersey.

Valentina looked at her for a second and then looked down at her own outfit, she wore at least two layers of clothing inside her big puffy winter jacket. She looked back at Juliana and asks “Aren’t you cold?” as she followed the girl outside the door

Juliana locked the door and walk down the stairs “we are going to move a lot anyway so no, besides I rarely got cold.”

Valentina just shakes her head at the oddity of the girl in front of her, she checked her bag pack for her shoes before they started to jog to the field.

They got to a small field overlooking the river and Manhattan on the other side, with view like this it really is a one of a kind field she had ever been in. It has fences around it but not too high, if she wanted, she could just kick the ball over it. Its size probably around half a real field, maybe even less. But it does have its own unique charm to it, that Valentina sure she could get used to. She can even hear the water if she focused enough, and she was sure it has a better view at night, but looking around she can’t see any lights that makes a night training possible unfortunately. The ambience of the place was really special, its like a little private nook in the city where they can hear the city waking up. She wasn’t aware how long she just stood at the edge of the field watching over the water at the city until she felt a ball rolled to her feet.

“Come on, you need to warm up princess.” She heard Juliana’s voice called out to her, she turned around and saw the girl was on the other side of the pitch starting her warmup. She looked down at the ball on her feet, of course the girl just kicked the ball to her feet on the other side of the field just strong enough to hit her a bit before stopping like its no big deal. She shook her head and jog to the girl and started their warm ups.

~

It rained

They were 3 hours in to their training when it started to drizzle, they decided to call it for the day and started to packed up. They just finished changed out of their cleats when it started pouring.

They ran for a block before Valentina pulled Juliana into a little café, where they took a seat in the corner and trying their best to dry their hair and clothes.

After a minute of getting themselves together she sat up straight and look at Juliana.

“Okay, I’m hungry and getting some food, what do you want?” she asks, standing up so she can go to order for them

“No, I’m not hungry, just go ahead and order for yourself.” Juliana said quickly.

Valentina just stare at her unamused. “Juls.” She said but when the girl didn’t budge, she continues “It seems to me that you forgot we basically lived together for two weeks and we saw how much we ate. And we both know we eat a lot more than a normal adult could.” She said crossing her hands

“Val, I didn’t bring any money, and I’m not that hungry. So, you go ahead and order yours.” She insisted.

“its my treat, I owed you one.” She said but after seeing that it still doesn’t do It for Juliana, she just took it as a challenge and went to the front to order anyway.

She came back to their table with a smirk on her face.

“why do you look so smug? What did you do?” Juliana asks she got a feeling that the girl just did something as she pleased like usual

“Let’s just say I ordered too much food for myself and I’m pretty sure you need to help me finish it so we don’t waste any food.” She said proudly

“Val..” she started protest but stopped after seeing Valentina’s face “thank you.” She said instead with a smile.

They ate their late breakfast and early lunch and talk some more about the upcoming tournament. Valentina ordered them hot beverage after seeing that the rain won’t be stopping anytime soon. It was an enjoyable morning that turned well into the afternoon without any of them realizes, they just hang out and enjoying each other company.

It was late in the afternoon when they got out of the café and walked to Juliana's home, they parted ways in front of her home when Valentina saw Alerio already waiting for her. And they hugged goodbyes before she went inside the car and telling Alerio that she needed to take a quick stop in a sport store, she wanted to buy her gifts as soon as possible so she doesn’t have to think about it anymore when they went to the Aspen for Christmas.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woohooo update!!!

It was Christmas morning, and Juliana was getting ready for her daily morning run. After doing her morning routines, she changed to her tracksuits and putting on her beaten up running shoes, not her outfits though. Her track suit was new, she got it from the camp, It comes with the team's logo and everything, it made her a little proud wearing it, even when she hasn't got her first game with the team yet, she knew that a lot of girls would give anything to be on her place right now.

They got a lot of things in camp, from practice jersey to others apparel, they got a pair of new cleats that really excites her, and some backpacks and duffel bags for travel. She was really grateful and still giddy when she looked at her new gears, she rarely got any new cleats or clothes. They were doing better than the first time they got here, but they still can’t just buy things without care, they still live in New York and its expensive to live here.

The home was empty as usual when she got out to the street and started stretching before she started to run her usual track. Usually the places she passes by was opening up or there are some few people who run this early that she passes by. She always hears how the sound of city waking up, but today it seems like it's decided to sleep a little bit longer, because she saw no one at all so far.

It was the holiday after all, maybe they are getting out of town to celebrate with their families, like Valentina. She was spending some time with her family somewhere on the mountain skiing, or more like boarding on her own as she said she was the only one that likes to snowboard in her family. Juliana even saw a picture of her in her pink puffy suit holding up her board in one hand and giving out a peace sign to the camera.

They talked on the phone and texts a lot; they did another practice together after the one they did the day they got back in the city. But other than that Valentina was too busy with her family that she couldn’t make any time so they can practice together, but she did promise that they will practice again after she got back and before Cayman.

She and her mom doesn’t really travel for their holidays though, its usually just dinner. or one time when she was like ten, Lupe surprised her and brought her to this outdoor camp. Where she learned how to ride a small motorcycle, and a lot more things but that is the one she remembers the most. It even makes her entertain the idea of owning a real motorcycle someday but Lupe doesn’t seem to likes the idea very much though.

After two hours long run, she finished her track right back to her apartment building. She was surprised to find Lupe in the kitchen cooking breakfast, because she thought she will stay in the hospital or something because she wasn’t even there the night before.

“Morning.” She greeted as she navigated herself to the kitchen to get herself a plate

“Morning darling, how was your run? I made pancakes.” Lupe said

“it was good, the quiet was nice. I can’t wait to get some practice in.” She said as she took some pancakes and move to the table so she can start to enjoy the rare treats.

“You still remember that Panchito and his kids are coming today right?” Lupe asks, she does remember hearing something like that before her camp. But with the tournament coming up, she wanted to practice more.

“But mom, I wanted to practice. I only have like a week and a half before the tournament starts.” She replied hopeful that she could still get some practice in

Lupe doesn’t seem to like that at all though, “Juli, we talked about this.” She said exasperated

They did talk about this, a lot actually. About how she needs more rest and take a break from practice from time to time, she said that too much of something good can be bad too and she always told her to do something else at least once a week. When she thinks about it, maybe she does practice too much, all she does besides practice is sleep, eat and school.

“Listen, I’m telling you as a nurse, that you need to rest once in a while, if possible once a week. And as a mom, please just take a day off and meet them, it’ll mean so much to me that you take care of yourself and maybe meet them. Just one day and then you can go back to practice.” Lupita added.

Lupita met Panchito a couple of years ago in the hospital. Since then they’ve gotten closer and even started dating, she doesn’t know much about the details because as mentioned she was always busy with her practice.

Juliana thought about it for a minute, maybe doing what she wanted before a big tournament is smart, she knows that her mom won’t do something as drastic as not letting her go or something similar but it’s still good to be safe for now, and to be honest a warm drinks and food in this cold weather sounds a lot better than freezing outside kicking balls, maybe not that much better just a bit. And maybe she could meet the person that made her mom a little bit happier, and introduce herself to her potential future family is a good idea. “Okay then.” She said at last

“Okay?” Lupita asked

“Yeah, okay.” She replied

“Thank you, please be nice to the kids too. They could be your step brother and sister later you know. And go take a shower, you stink.” She said with a big smile on her face, it seems like she made a good decision.

~

It was late in the afternoon when Panchito and his kids came. Juliana was in front of the TV half paying attention to it as she was distracted by the texts she got from Valentina, she was exhausted and not the good kind of exhausted she usually got after practice or a good run, she tried to help Lupita making dinner in the kitchen, she thought she was doing okay until Lupita had enough of her mistakes and slowness and basically just kicked her out. So, she was on the couch ranting via texts about how hard it is too cook to a person she knew can relate to her until she heard the buzz and Lupita opened the door.

She saw Panchito’s photos before so she knew that he has a goatee with dark hair and brown skin tone, what she doesn’t know was how stocky and broad his shoulder was. It was a bit intimidating to her until he catches her eyes and gave her a smile and a wave, it really contradicted with his appearance that it made her feels like he was barney or something.

Then she saw two small girls with chestnut hair ran to Lupita and hugged her tightly while calling her, apparently, they were a lot closer than she thought.

After watching closer she realized that they are twin, they have light brown skin and green eyes. They are two adorable 5 years old girls, must got it from their mother, which according to her mom she passed away when they were still infants. Well at least they got something in common that they can bond over, she didn’t know where that thought came from but it was a bit too dark even for her.

Their faces were really similar that she knew she wouldn’t be able to tell them apart without their different hair pin. The one with the red hairpin saw her and walked to her, she stopped in front of Juliana and seem to study her for a second before offering her hand to her while saying “Hi, you must be Juliana, I’m Riley.”

Juliana took the small hand and said “Yes I am, nice to meet you.” She assumed that Lupita must’ve told them about her.

She looked at the other girl with the blue hairpin, she was still hugging Lupita before she realized they were looking at her, Juliana could see in the little girls’ eyes when she finally made the connection that it was her turn to introduce herself. “Hello, I’m Skylie.” She said with a small voice with a blush on her cheek embarrassed but she still gave Juliana a small wave.

Juliana just waved back before Riley said “Lupita said that you are good at soccer and do cool tricks with a ball. Sky plays soccer too, and I want to see if you are better than her. There is no way that I will let you teach her if you are not good.” The girl took a deep breath after, it looked like she forgot to breathe for a second there.

Juliana was confused and looked at her mom questioningly but she was greeted with a smiling Lupita and Skylie already hugging a ball with this cute face like she was determined or begging or something, Juliana doesn’t know but she knows she won’t be able to say no to that.

~

She thought dinner would be awkward, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. The twins were really entertaining once they got to know each other, with banters, teasing and little pranks.

Skylie was a lot more comfortable with her after Juliana showed her some freestyle juggling, and it does help with Riley after she decided that she was good enough to train her sister. She learned a lot more about them, Skylie actually talked a lot after they got closer, and Riley doesn’t like soccer as much as her sister, she said that they can be the best at two things rather than one so she was still looking for her place to be the best at.

After dinner and dessert was consumed, they all gravitated toward the couch sitting around opening gifts, Lupita set up a small Christmas tree they got around four years ago, it was the first time Juliana and Lupita celebrated the day with gifts and festive.

Kylie and Riley were the ones who distributed the gifts to their respective owner, before they sat down and opening their own, or in Riley case tearing through it. They got sweatshirts and other small things, like books and mugs, the twins got their toys and chocolates.

Juliana was confused, she usually got two presents. One from her mom and the other from her mom's old boss, but this year she got an extra one from Panchito, and another one from both of the twins. But there is still one box left for her, she took the box wrapped in red with golden ribbon, there was a small card with her name on it dangling on the side, she studied the card looking for a clue who sent it until she gasp when she found a little ‘v’ pattern on the card.

She looked around the room and saw them looking at her with anticipation, they were waiting for her to open it, it seems like they are as curious as her.

She opened the box and reached inside, she grabbed the most comfortable thing she ever held ever and she knew she would love it no matter what was it. it was a white sweatshirt with a cool ace of spades on the back, she scoffed at the print, wearing that around her team will be embarrassing but feeling the softness of the fabric she knew she would still wear it no mater what.

She took out her phone and dialed Valentina right away, ignoring the questioning looks from her mom and disappointed ones from the twins, it seems like a pair of shoes wasn’t cool enough for them to get excited but she was. And she waited for a bit before the line was connected

“Val, you shouldn’t have. I didn’t get you anything!” she said right away

“hello to you too.”

“oops, hi. Merry Christmas Val, you really shouldn’t have to give me anything.” She said, looking around the room where everyone was watching her. She decided to went to her room so she can talk

“Its alright, I love giving gifts.” She heard Valentina said as she closed her bedroom door. “How was your day?” she continued seems like she wanted to stir the conversation away from gifts, and the girl definitely knows her a lot better if she knew that she wasn’t really comfortable with gifts.

They talked all night and well into the early morning, it was the first time they called each other usually they just texts and all that. Panchito and the twins left around ten not long after the gifts opening, because the twins were tired. They talked a lot about how their holidays are going and what are they expecting from the tournaments around the corner, they even plan their flight to Miami. It was where all of them going to meet up before traveling to Cayman together, it was ten days tournaments but they are going to be there a little early so they can get in a bit of practice and get used to the climate there. It was something that makes them giddy with excitement and they can hear it in each other voice, and they seem to just can’t wait for it to happen already.

~

It was early in the morning and her home was unusually busy and full of people, Lupita was in the kitchen making a lot of breakfast with Panchito helping her, while the twin was busy doing their thing, she doesn’t really know what it was and she doesn’t really care right now. They stayed over since the new year, where they spent together again. The twins were really taking a liking to her so they wanted to spend time with her like all the time, they even come with her when she practices alone. And it seems like Lupita was delighted about that fact, she doesn’t really care though, she has something that she has to give her focus on right now and as long as they didn’t interrupt her too much, she was okay with them tagging along.

She was making some lasts minutes checking on her stuff, making sure she doesn’t forget anything and everything was packed neatly in her team issued travel duffel, it has wheels too so she was grateful for that. Valentina was supposed to pick her up in an hour and she still needed to get ready and breakfast, maybe going for a run was a bad idea but she really needed it.

She finished everything in time before she heard her phone ringing from Valentina calling her, she said good byes to everyone before getting her backpack and duffel before going outside of her building to see Valentina was waiting outside, and started to help her with her luggage right away.

Valentina pulled her for a quick photo before going inside the car and getting on their way to the airport, it’s a small private airport in New Jersey so they have a bit of a journey to get through. Convincing her mom to let her fly together with Valentina was easier after they met, and it does help with her money situation. She wasn’t going to do it but after Valentina convinced her with a lot of good points why she should, she does it in the end. It seems like Valentina was getting good at convincing her to do something, and she haven’t had a reason to regret it yet.

they used the time to get to the airport to catch up and swapping stories about their holidays, with Valentina telling her about her ski trips and how she learned a new trick on her board, and Juliana told her about the twins and their antiques. It does make Valentina really excited hearing about the little girls and she still doesn’t think too much about it, maybe the girl just wanted to meet the cute kids.

Once they got to the airport, this time they got dropped off right besides the plane. But looking at it, Juliana was sure it was a different one from the one they used to get back from LA. She looked questioningly to Valentina, but the girl just gave her a smile and a shrug without explaining anything.

They got in and she was a little surprised that Alerio was going with them, this time her questioning look got answered. “he is going with us to document the games for my dad, he said its been too long since he watched my game.” Valentina said “And for protection.” She shrugged

“That’s cool, can I have a copy for my mom?” Juliana asks choosing to ignore the latter comment

“Sure, if you score some goals though.” Valentina said with a challenging smirk

Juliana looked at Valentina and after judging how serious she was, she decided to take on the challenge “Sure, how many do you want?”

“We will play 3 group stage games, and 2 knockout games.” Valentina said

“Ooh, I like the confidence.” Juliana said knowing that they can only play the last two games if they perform well and don’t lose.

“Since there is no golden shoe award, I still want you to score the most in the tournament.” She continued nonchalantly, still egging Juliana on.

“Done.” Juliana said full with confidence, she knew it wasn’t going to be that easy but she will try. She was planning on doing just that anyway so a bonus footage was nice.

“Ohh, I like that confidence.” Valentina threw her own words back at her. “How about if you scored 10 goals in 5 games you get some awesome pictures on top of the matches footage?” she added.

Now Juliana was excited, she loves challenges and this one is something she couldn’t passes up, she wanted to win the promised pictures and videos, but on top of it all she wanted to wiped that smirk off of Valentina’s face, she just looked too smug right now. “Deal.” She said as they shook on their bet.

The rest of the flight was spent with them talking about strategies and football, the flight was quick and uneventful as usual, Valentina did bring her to the cockpit to watch the pilots for a bit though. And she still sees how giddy Valentina was about it, and how she seems to know a lot of things about the plane, even explaining how all the instruments works and about all the different function on the panel, Juliana doesn’t understand anything she said, but seeing the girl excited about something did made her excited about it too.

They landed late morning and went to a mission for searching food right away, and decided to went to a coffee shop with a bunch of pastries near the airport. It's not the meeting point they were supposed to meet at, but Valentina said she will be going crazy if she waited for two hours inside the airport. So, they just settled to eat snacks and people watching while they waited.

After a couple of hours of waiting and an ungodly amount of pastries consumed between them, its time for them to go and meet with the other. They took their backpack and walked inside to search for their teammates with Alerio following discreetly behind them. Juliana doesn’t know why, but Valentina said something about protection protocol, so she just follows the girl’s lead.

The first thing they saw was Rose teaching two girls some kind of dance choreograph with Lindsey and Mal watching and laughing at them, and the rest of their teammates on the chairs or the floors talking to each other or just doing their own thing on their phone. And the coaches and staffs were a bit away from them but still close enough.

Lindsey was the first one to sees them approaching and shouted “Yo! princess, Ace over here.” That makes the whole team turn their head to them and maybe some other bystander too, which they just waved at the whole team and continued their way.

They make their way around the people and said hi with fist bumps and hugs before coming to sit near Mal to watch the dancing trio.

“I thought the nickname will be forgotten by now.” Valentina said to Lindsey

She just shrugged “if the shoe fit, princess.” She said and laughed at her own joke, to be fair most of them that heard it did.

“Whatever, anyway what’s happening?” Valentina asks

“With you two here at last we just need to wait for the staff to check us in and then we are ready to go.” Mal said

“Hey we are not late,” Juliana replied “in fact we were already here for a couple of hours.”

“didn’t say you were. Seems like everyone was too excited so they came earlier than needed.”

After a staff checking them in and gave them their boarding pass, they continued to wait in the waiting room for their flight, it was around an hour later until they get to board they plane and in their way to Cayman Island for their first ever competition.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if this one seem rushed, i was busy all week and only got time for writing but not for a read through again and editing, but here is the chapter

It was late in the afternoon when they arrived at Grand Cayman, it was an hour and a half flight which wasn’t too long, but for Valentina it just couldn’t get any longer, she felt like it was three hours or more and disliked every minute of it.

The weather was good and there wasn’t any turbulence or such, and she wasn’t that bothered by turbulence. It was the seat; she had a hard time to find a comfortable position to take a quick nap or even just relax. There wasn’t any space at all and she got out of that plane having so much more respect to everyone who had to travel and suffer that way every time they flight.

She did get some nap in the end, like fifteen minutes of sleep but she immediately regrets it. because now she had a really nasty neck pain and she had to get some time with one of the trainers to fix it, those really brings her mood downhill quite fast.

They were inside the airport and standing around for all their luggage and equipment to come out when she decided she need to get something for her mood because there was nothing she can do for her neck at the moment.

She gave her bag to Juliana “Can you hold this for a minute, I’m going there for a second.” She said indicating to a small store not too far from there.

She found kitkat and that does put a small smile on her face, at least she got her favorite snack to help her. She took some more snacks to share, she knew they got snacks from the staffs too but considering how much they burn calories everyday and how much they loves to eat she knew that some extra snacks are always good to have.

Juliana came to get her when she was paying and helped her bring a couple of bags of snacks to their bus.

They took their seats around the back of the bus. The ride wasn’t that long, in fact its only took like ten minutes ride to get to their hotel.

She was nursing her neck when Juliana noticed it and asked her to turn her back to her, she was confused but she turned anyway. She felt Juliana's hand on her shoulder and before she can protest she felt the girl's hand squeezed and started massaging her, her protests turned into a sigh of contentment and she closed her eyes enjoying the amazing feeling.

She didn’t know that Juliana knew how to give a decent massage let alone an amazing one. She felt her muscles on her shoulder and neck started to relax and unwind, but suddenly Juliana took off her hands and she can't hold the whimpered that escape from her lips.

She turned her body to look at the girl “Juls why did you stop, it was getting good.” She protests

The girl stared at her and motion to the window

She looked outside and realized that they have arrived, that was too fast. The ride was too fast and that should be a crime she thought “damn. Why are we here already.”

“It is an island Val, besides you need to see our trainer, I don’t really know what im doing so just to be safe.” She reasoned

The hotel was nice, not as nice as she was used to with her family but she knew that not everyone wasn’t lucky enough to have the same or similar circumstances like her.

Everyone was waiting around in the lobby for their room assignment and checking out their schedule for the week.

She found out that they have a bit of time to spare before they have dinner, so she decided to find their trainer and told him about her neck problem so they can fix it right away.

~

An hour later after a massage and a better neck she found herself in the lobby that’s quite empty

It's seems like everyone got their room and doing their own thing before dinner. She went to the reception and getting her room key before going to find her room

She was happy with her neck and she was humming softly when she got into her room, she still doesn’t know who she will get as her roommate and it does excite her to find out.

Everyone in the team was nice and welcoming, and they already become friends with each other so she wasn’t worried about getting a roommate that she can't stand, but she still have some people who will make her more happy if she get them as her roommate.

She opened her room quietly and walked softly afraid if her roommate was taking a nap and she doesn’t want to disturb her, she knew that she was tired from the travel and she was looking forward to a nap or even a full night sleep.

After peeking around the corner and finding no one was sleeping or even in the room with her she walked to her bags on the corner of her room.

But before she reached it and know what was happening, she felt a hand grabbed her on her sides from behind and a small 'boo' besides her ear.

She let out an impressive squeak and jumped high to land on a bed, she closed her face with her hands and felt her heart was beating really hard.

There was a laugh on the floor, and she knew that laugh. She take a peek and sure enough there was Juliana on the floor laughing at her, she took a pillow and threw it at the girl.

The pillow wasn’t doing anything to stop the girl though, she just kept laughing. So Valentina huffed and said “yeah keep laughing, lets see if I'm sharing my snacks if you don’t stop soon.”

Hearing the threat Juliana sobered up right away, “Valentina I'm sorry, not the snacks por vafor.” She was already up right in front of Valentina taking her hands and looked at her with wide eyes. It seems like playing with her food was the way to get through her, Valentina thought it was a really good information to have on the girl.

They looked at each other for a few moments stuck in their stare down, until one of them scoffed and the laugh continues, but this time both of them was laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation.

It was a few minutes later until they got control of their laugher and not burst out laughing when they saw each other face.

“So.” Valentina said after she got her breathing back to normal

“So.” She heard Juliana said teasing, they were both laying down on one of the bed catching their breath

“Are you my roommate?” Valentina asks turning her head around trying to see Juliana

“Apparently so.” She answered grinning

“Lucky you then huh.” Valentina teased

“Yes, I am so lucky to have access to all of those snacks you brought.” She said with a straight face, which got her another pillow to her face before they started laughing again.

~

Dinner was different, not a big different but there was an underlying tenseness in the room. Valentina could feel it, like when they were joking around and laughing, there are these little edge in their voices. Or when they talked about things, it seems like they all danced around the topic of the tournament.

It was a little disconcerting but she knew by looking at everybody’s eyes that they were all focus, and to be honest she too was super focus on the games ahead, it feels like beside the games ahead, nothing else matter now. And it was scary to think that this is the first time she felt like this, this intense focus on just winning and give everything she could for the upcoming games.

Its getting uncomfortable and the everyone seems to noticed it but no one seems to willing to break the ice, she looked at the staffs and coaches table and they looked just content on letting the atmosphere simmer or just feigning ignorance.

Slowly the conversations died down and only some occasional clinking sounds could be heard, and that too died down soon enough and only silence with people looking at each other. They looked at each other for a couple seconds before someone burst out laughing and everyone joined in

It was the first time Valentina laughed that freely at a dinner situation, they were laughing at the ridiculous way they let the nerve got to them. It really does made a really weird moment she had ever experienced.

They went back to their normal team dinner atmosphere after that, maybe not entirely normal because there were still a little nervousness in the back of her mind. But she wasn’t on the edge like she did before, and she knew that most of them did relaxed after that.

After dinner was done Juliana excused herself to go to bed early, and since they were in the same room she came back to their room together thinking that she wasn’t going to disturb the girl by going back to the room later.

~

Valentina woke up to small noises in her room, she stirred and the noise seemed to stop right away before continues a couple of second later.

“Juliana?” she asked with her raspy voice trying to make sure

“Yes its me, go back to sleep Val.” Juliana whispered back

“what are you doing?” she asked again after checking that she couldn’t see any lights leaking through from the curtain.

“Im looking for my running shoes, sorry if I wake you up just go back to sleep, ill be quieter.”

“Okay.” Valentina tried to go back to sleep

Around five minutes later after some light sounds she heard a small sigh.

“Found it?” she asked it looks like she couldn’t get back to sleep

“No..” juliana answered

“Did you packed it?” she asked

“I couldve sworn I did. But apparently I didn’t.”

She heard a small answer, Juliana sounds so sad that she wanted to fix that right away. So she throw her comforter and sat up.

“That’s a bummer, what are you gonna do?”

“im not sure, maybe I'll just take my cleats and run on a field or something.”

“You know what, can you wait for me for a little? I have an idea.”

She got ready with her trainers and they went to the lobby together

Juliana was following her when she got out to the back of the hotel room to the beach, she stopped and turned around to see Juliana still giving her questioning looks.

Valentina just smile and took off her shoes then waited for Juliana to do the same. Juliana seem to got what her idea was and seems to like it, she was already back to smiling when they started their warm up and done their run on the beach.

It was one of the best run she had ever had, especially when they stopped and looked at the sunrise over the water, it was breathtaking.

They got back soon after the sunrise though, with the tournament starting tomorrow they can't pushed their bodies and risk injury, so they only run enough to get their blood pumping.

They were in the lobby when she heard it, a small sound of protest comes from Juliana’s stomach. She looked at the girl who just looked away and pretended not to hear anything.

Valentina shook her head at her friends antique and took her hand to go to search a small café for snacks before breakfast.

After asking the receptionist for recommendations and directions, then they went in a fifteen minutes walk to find the café.

It was a cute small café and bakery where they got a couple of breads and some drinks, they decided to sat there and enjoying their snacks while waiting for their team breakfast.

It was around an hour later when they decided to go back to the hotel, they found that most people already at the breakfast tables either talking or eating their breakfast. Not everyone looks thrilled for the early morning though.

After breakfast they had a team meeting where they watched some videos of their next opponent and talking more in detail about them.

And once again their coach told them about being ready and some motivational speech.

~

That afternoon they went to the venue where the tournament will take place. it’s the Turman Bodden Sports Complex, it was an open field with a risen up seating for maybe around a thousand people to watch.

They checked out the grass condition and all the little factors too, Valentina usually checked for where the sun will be going to be when they are going to play but since they are playing the seconds games pretty much all the time, she doesn’t really need to bother with that. But she still needs to check the positions of the lights though, because sometimes those can be use as an advantage or disadvantage in the game.

They aren’t the only team there though, with how tight the competition schedule is even with how important it is. They met with Mexico’s team which is one of the best team to win in this tournament, behind them of course.

Valentina felt some of them looking at her and maybe talking about her, she can't really be sure but she got a feeling with how much she felt like she was being watched. She got confirmation when they got out and saw how tensed Lindsey and Cari was, Cari was their captain she usually the one that lift their spirits with her weird antiques.

But they were quiet that short bus ride to their hotel, and the team got a call to Cari’s hotel room for a secret emergency team meeting, they used to have a movie night in one of the rooms and all that. But this one she felt was actually something serious.

Around fifteen minutes later, they got around twenty teenagers crammed up in a single hotel room. And no one seem to know what the agenda was, so they were sitting around the room with Cari standing in the middle looking really serious.

They were getting quiet while she looked them in the eyes one by one, with the seconds tick by and turned to minutes. She seems to made her mind and nod once before addressing all of them.

“So.” She started and all of them seem to stand in attention, Cari was their captain for a reason. She was respected by all of them, and despite her quirks and fooling around outside the pitch, she can really take command just like that.

“I don’t know if you know, but I heard some nasty things lately.” She said, her voice never went above a certain level but it's still carries the seriousness of the situation, even more so.

“I heard people say that we don’t really have a chance this year with how many good seniors left the team, and I am actually the only one left from last World Cup Squad.”

“How our head coach was going crazy with her first tournament by how she built the squad, this squad.”

“or bringing a couple of prepubescent children was a disastrous choice.” This time she looked at her and Juliana, but there was a small smile before she continues

“they said that Lavelle was sure good, but she won’t be good enough to carry the whole team.” Rose was looking a bit pissed by that.

“and how we don’t have any hope for scoring a goal let alone multiple with two fifteen years old children as our forward, with a bunch of no names and only one senior.” she looked at Lindsey and brought her fingers up making the quotations mark on the word senior.

“Those aren’t really an encouraging word to hear before a tournament was it?” she asked and everyone shook their heads still expecting her to continue.

“and not just our own people criticizing and doubting us, just now I heard and saw some weird looks from the Mexico team.” Valentina saw that some people nodded confirming that it did happen

“well, they can think whatever they want about us. As long as we know that isn’t true, and we focus on our games and not letting what people said bothered us.”

“I know that this team was the best team I have ever had the pleasure to play with. I know how amazing we actually are as a team.” Everyone seems to getting riled up all of a sudden

“I know that we can pull it off by far and win the world cup this year.” Everyone was agreeing

“we know how freakishly good these two children are. And I’m not gonna lie I really think that they could win the whole thing by themselves but let’s not make their heads bigger than it already is” She placed her hands on their heads and rustled their hairs much to their annoyance and the team laughing

“I know that coach said we have to be smart and conserve our energy for the whole tournament, she said that just get a good lead and stay there.” They were waiting for their captain to finish this because they got a feeling that they are going to love what she had to say

“But I say, we are young and stupid. So, let’s go wild and keep going until we drop dead or pulled off. Let’s show them that we are not just going to win this tournament and the world cup, but we are going to make them eat their own words and remember this for the rest of their lives.” They were on their feet cheering and chanting on top of their lungs until they were huddled up in one circle and chant for the last time.

it was really refreshing and made her focus, it was really reassuring to know that her team actually trust her, she knew that they do trust her before but hearing it was a really good thing.

An assistant coach knock on their door and told them off because of their noise, but the smiles on their faces that night was still there even long after their dinner. the dinner was a contrast from last night too, it feels like the pressure on her shoulder got lighter, not gone entirely but more like she knew they were all sharing it so it was a lot better.

That night they were just ready for the next day already.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im not really sure how to write the game, but i hope you like it

Juliana woke up feeling warm, a little too warm. That was weird, she never got too warm in the morning usually it was the opposite and she got too cold. And she knew that the air conditioner was on, in fact Valentina put it quite low last night.

It was still dark outside from what she can see from her place. It wasn’t until a couple of seconds later that she realized she wasn’t alone in the bed. At first, she felt the little movements from the person breathing, then she felt the small warm air blowing on her back with every breath, and she felt the weight of the person arm wrapping around her stomach. She assumed it was Valentina, since they were up late talking last night.

They got back to their room early after team dinner last night. And after an hour of tossing and turning trying to sleep early, it was basically impossible with how excited they were for today. So, they decided to take a walk to calm their hearts down.

They ended up walking on the beach behind the hotel, it was a nice calm night with the sound of the ocean, some stars and the moon up above. They were talking and walking for a long time, maybe a couple of hours.

They talked about a lot of stuff, Valentina told her stories about her dad and her siblings, told her about how Eva her older sister enrolled to Julliard without her dad knowing, how funny she thinks her sister face looked like when she thought she was going to get into trouble and how it changed into a really sweet smile Valentina had ever seen on her face when their dad said he was proud of Eva for chasing her dream. Valentina told her about her brother Guille ambition to be just like their dad to continue their family business and how happy her dad was hearing that. Valentina still doesn’t tell her about what exactly is the family business though, she asks but the girl just told her to google it, and Juliana decided to take it as a challenge and determined to get it out of Valentina herself. It was clear that Valentina loves her family, she doesn’t talk about her friends though.

They ended up talking until they got back to their room and continued talking on her bed until they fell asleep, apparently no one moved to the other bed last night and they just slept together in the same bed. She doesn’t really think too much of it.

She was just grateful for the distraction from the tournament. She loves it and really excited for it, but if she was honest, she was starting to stresses over it and yet the first match not even started yet. so, it was really refreshing to talked about some other stuff beside football, Valentina even told her that they are going to swim with some stingrays before they go back to the US, the girl loves travel and she was going to be pissed if they didn’t take advantage of being there.

Juliana gets it, she knew that this was a one in a lifetime opportunity for her. There wasn’t a guarantee that she was going to get call up again. And she knew that travelling like this wasn’t really an option for her and her mom. so, taking advantage of their current situation and enjoying the moment was a good idea, and she knew her mom won’t be pleased to know that she didn’t at least try to have fun outside of football.

She felt Valentina stirred awake behind her so she turned around to see the girl’s beautiful eyes blinking back at her; she can just watch those forever. She thinks its blue, but right now they were closer to grey with just a hint of blue, she knew that they are a lot bluer in the light and sometimes in certain lights they changed to green or maybe turquoise. She didn’t realize she knew so much about Valentina eye color, but they were really pretty.

Juliana laughed a small laugh when she saw the confusion in the eyes. “Morning.”

Valentina rubbed her eyes before opening them again still confused “Mnin.” She mumbled while yawning she closed her eyes and make herself comfortable again.

“Sleep well?” Juliana asks, hoping that the girl wasn’t planning on going back to sleep

Valentina mutter her agreement before giving her a small nod. “I need a bit more.” She continued in a murmur before scooting closer and wrapping her arm tighter around Juliana.

“Val…” Juliana tried to protest but after seeing the adorable pout and small head shake, she decided to just let the girl sleep for a bit more and waited.

~

She fell asleep

She wasn’t sure for how long, but it must be a couple of hours as the sun was already out.

She got up and stretches, there was no Valentina in sight and no sound from the bathroom either. It was around seven in the morning; it was too late for a run so she probably just hit the hotel gym for a light run in bit maybe after breakfast. Its not that late or hot yet, but she’s just uncomfortable out running when there were probably a lot of people already starting their days.

After her quick shower she found a bag with a note from Valentina telling her she already went down to breakfast and enjoy her snack. she laughed when she saw a couple of muffins inside, Juliana was getting spoiled and she knew it but can't really complain because they did have a conversation about this.

They bickered and bantered, trading their own arguments and counter arguments about the gift giving situations that would probably going out of hands if let be according to Juliana. It wasn’t pretty but she was glad they resolved it or in Valentina’s word ‘established a guideline on the gift situation’ it was ridiculous but Juliana feels like she needs it with how giving her new best friend was.

Basically, it's just to prevent Valentina spending a ridiculous amount of money on a single gift, and how food was not considered as gifts because it’s a necessity for an athlete as themselves to eat. That was a non-negotiable condition from Valentina after Juliana gave her first condition. The guideline was still open for further revision in the future too.

Yes, it was crazy, but after learning how Valentina really loves giving or as she puts it, its her primary love language, whatever that means. But if its important to her friends, then she would respect it and let her do it within reason. Besides there’s no such thing as enough food.

She changed and went to breakfast munching on her muffins, it looks like everyone was already there either eating or just hanging out waiting for the team meeting. People were either extra loud or really quiet, and it was weird because without her noticing she too talked a lot more than she used to at breakfasts.

She joked around with Cari while they eat and even had a chance to make a short dance choreography with Rose after, they both loves dancing and it helped to let the time pass without getting more antsy than she already felt.

She saw Valentina already finished with her breakfast, but she was the total opposite of her right now. She was usually the ones who likes to socialize and joking around with the team, but she was quiet with her chunky beats headphone on her ears just watching the room. It was weird, but if the girl needed her alone time before the game then she should get some.

~

Team meeting went quicker than usual. They can never be prepared enough for a match but over thinking things would just hinder them, so they finalized their strategy the day before the match and believe in their own abilities to pull it off.

Yesterday, they all watched their opponent’s previous matches footage and analyzing the strategy. Then they brainstormed ideas that they can implement on their own strategy to help them against this particular opponent. It was a long meeting where their captain Cari, Rose, and Valentina bounces off ideas with their coaches and sometimes the other gave their opinions, but they basically already covered everything.

Today coach just reminded them of the strategy and some little changes that they decided yesterday together. And basically, told them that inside the field they need to listen to Cari and Valentina if the opponent had a surprise or some strategy that they can’t deal with.

It’s a common thing to do as there was no timeout that they can call in the middle of the game to brush up on their strategy and it was usually the captain role to do it but apparently coach really trusted Valentina to be the team’s brain. She’s can’t complain even if she wanted to though, she knew the girl would do a good job at it and she does trust her team.

~

It's time

They did their warmup, changed to their jerseys, getting loud in their locker room, lined up on the pitch, sang their national anthem, shook hands with their opponents and referees, last huddle with the team, listening to Cari amazing speech, and chanted on top of their lungs.

Cari choose the ball when she won the coin toss.

Walking to her position for kick off, it’s just suddenly hit her at once how real the situation was, for some strange reason she just couldn’t believe that a month ago she was in California participating in national youth camp, and now she was in Cayman Island ready on the field waiting for the whistle in a match against Costa Rica in the U20 CONCACAF 2014 tournament.

Right before the whistle, she closed her eyes, and took a single deep breath to calm her nerves, when she opened them again the whistle has blown.

She saw Lindsey on the ball ready to pass it to her, she was looking at her, waiting for a sign from Juliana to tell her that she was ready. Then she saw their goalkeeper on the other side.

‘Maybe. But there’s no way.’ She thought

She wanted to give Lindsey a nod, but she hesitated. She took a glance again at their keeper, the idea in her head was glaring at her demanded to be met.

‘you only start you football career once, so why not start it with a bang.’ She took a quick glance behind her and saw a Valentina motioning an explosion with her hands. Well, the girl was the brain of the team and she had nothing to lose.

So, she shook her heads at the ridiculous thing she’s about to do and gave a wink to Lindsey as her only warning before she ran up to the ball and kicking it forward.

The kick felt good, the ball flies good with good trajectory, and dropped good too. She saw how the goalkeeper was stunned, probably contemplating how crazy she was before she realizes that the ball was on target and started to move to try to saves it. But it was already too late for that, she was up too high from her own goal.

She saw the ball dropped just shy below the top bar and hit the net. She saw how the keeper tumbled and fell trying to save it. She saw the Costa Rica’s players surprised faces like they couldn’t believe that just happened. Even she couldn’t believe it happened, she thought at the very most that they will get a corner kick out of that. But apparently it just went in, she smiled and turned around to see her teammates ran to her and giving her a group hugs and screaming her name.

After a minute of celebrating they started again, this time with them leading a score and Costa Rica kick off. They passed it back to their back line to keep their possessions, and tried to build up their attacks like they used to.

USA got their next chance a minute after, when Juliana saw the chance and intercepted the ball in a dangerous position from a bad pass by the opponent back lines. The girl who lost possession was relentless though, she pursues right away and her teammates came not even two seconds after Juliana got the ball.

But she saw Lindsey was making a run it to the goal, so Juliana did a simple Cruyff turn buying her a second from the first defender to deal with the second one where she went with a fake pass. It was a good couple of seconds distraction for Lindsey to get some more ground on her run before Juliana chipped it over to her.

Lindsey managed to stay onside and only had to deal with the keeper, but unfortunately the ball fell a bit too close to the goal and the keeper was already coming up to close the space, Lindsey managed to kick the ball which was deflected and gave them a corner kick.

They got in to position inside the box for a corner kick, she saw Valentina walked to the corner to take the kick. The girl threw her hand up for signal before sending the ball to the box. It was a good ball for the near post, and Lindsey was there to head it in.

Two zero in under ten minutes, now she felt like they are doing it.

~

When halftime roll around, Juliana put two more goals for them with Valentina’s assists, her second goal was another corner kick where this time Valentina basically put the ball in front of Juliana. Because of her height Juliana was standing outside of the crowd, she was occupying the 18-yard line on the far post. It was a basic touch and shoot. Touch to control, looks up, shoot. She was proud of where she put it though, she worked really hard for her shooting and accuracy, and bending it into the upper corner on the far post while avoiding the players in the middle was a great shot if she does say so herself.

Their opponents really step up their game after the third goal and Juliana found herself occupied with at least one defender at all time, even when she doesn’t have the ball, it’s a good strategy to force her team not to pass to her or even if they do she had to pass it back because of the intense pressure they put on her.

She did create a lot of space because of it though. And Valentina didn’t waste any of it, she gave a lot of amazing opportunities other who supports in their attacks, but they just couldn’t finish, either it’s the bar, or the Costa Rica’s defense was there to save the day, or the keeper stepping up her game.

It was a lot of opportunities and attacks on goal that never bear any fruits for twenty minutes now, and Valentina looked a little frustrated. Well, she did run around the whole field to help taking the ball back and building the attacks.

Around the forty minutes mark Valentina seem to had enough of fruitless opportunities and decided to drive the ball near Juliana on her own to open up some breathing room for Juliana, they did a couple one two leading up to the box together before Valentina gave her an amazing back heel pass which she simply taps into the net. That was her third and their final goal in the first half.

Their coach praised them in the locker room but said to slow down on the attack as she wanted them to conserve energy for their next matches and prevent unnecessary injury.

They got back in to the second half and did just that, Valentina switches them to play more opportunistic with long balls rather than constantly passing and helping each other to build their attack like the first half. She brought their tempo down a notch but still decided to just suddenly switch it back up when they got an opportunity, it was a new type of play Juliana wasn’t used to play but she did keep up, and Valentina said to her in the locker room to basically just sit still and look pretty so she can be a decoy. She was a little annoyed at that but it’s a good idea, she was just annoyed that Valentina was right than anything else.

But she did get her chance around ten minutes into the second half, she was deep down on their half of the field trying to help release some pressure off of her team from the opponent’s attack when Cari stole the ball from the left winger. they were under a lot of pressure since the beginning of the second half and they have been playing on their side of the field defending.

Juliana saw Valentina gave her a hand motion to just run up field, the girl still don’t have the ball and she didn’t see any clear lane pass from Cari to her yet she gave her the signal anyway. But she trusts her teammates, so she booked it fast to the other side without looking back. The opponent’s back line was really high up and just shy on the middle of the field, but thankfully they did scramble to turned and falling back when they saw their teammate lost the ball and Juliana already on full speed running to their box.

She barely left the middle circle when she saw the ball flies high over her, with that height she got an extra couple of seconds to catch up to it and she knows she could make it in time to where the ball would land, just outside the 18 yards line right side. she thinks there was two other defenders behind her trying to catch up, she wasn’t sure, she had a ball to chase and score.

Juliana got there right on time, the ball was still falling and will touch the ground a couple of steps in front of her. First, she took one look at the goal; the keeper was ready and spreading her arms looking big. Then she took her two final steps to position herself and perfectly timed her kick right before the ball hit the ground. That was the third chance she got from Valentina that match and she wasn’t going to waste such a good ball. she gave a good volley kick to the upper left side of the goal, too far for the keeper to reach, she tried though. It was an amazing goal judging by the roar of her team on the bench, and they were jumping up and down celebrating, she wasn’t a big believer in goal celebrations. So, she just gave a peace sign and a big smile to Valentina for her amazing assist, before her teammate catch up to her and piled up to give her another group hug.

It was five minutes after that, around the 60 minutes mark that she was subbed out for Mal, she was a little disappointed but happy for her friend and the opportunity she gotten.

After giving a high-five and saying good luck to Mal she went to the bench where her teammates and coaches were waiting. They praised her for her works and congratulates her for her goals, it was a good vibe on the bench.

Watching the game from the sideline was another experience altogether, it was thrilling and intense in its own way.

When the match progressed, she gets more and more appreciation for her team, it was easy to get lost in the heat of the moment when she was out there playing and not paying much attention to the game as a whole.

And watching the game she was a little lost for word, the first five minutes when she was watching the game, she can rarely see Valentina. It was weird because when she was out there the girl was the one who had the biggest presence on the field, so she decided to watch Valentina around with her eyes. And her mind was blown by what the girl actually doing, watching her was like looking through a window to the whole game.

Her movements were weird at first glance, but after watching it more she realizes that Valentina was moving as she was anticipating what would happen and not reacting on what was happening, like how she stopped chasing an air ball and intercepted the only passing lane available instead of trying to win the air battle. It was smart, they are both shorter than the other girls there and trying to win in a jump was a bad idea. And her positioning was something else, she was always there as an option for passing the ball to progress up the field or for a back pass, and she always made sure that where ever she was, she got enough space so she had enough time to connect the ball to other players.

The small girl was really active on the field too, she helped with the defense, she creates spaces and opportunities for the offense, she covered other people positions if needed be, she pressures the opponent’s possessions nicely, heck she was everywhere doing her best to help the team. It was tiring watching her play

Valentina wasn’t the flashiest player, she was just too efficient with her touches and time with the ball, she never holds the ball for too long. It was really breathtaking and no wonder coach gave her the most important and difficult position to play. Well, in her opinion at least.

But Juliana knew Valentina has the skills to be flashy if she chooses to, or more like if it was the best choice at the moment, she was sure Valentina only does it if it was the best solution for the situation. She did some cool back heel passes from time to time. Unlike her, Juliana knew it was a not the best thing to do but she likes to use tricks and unorthodox ways to get out of a bad situation or creating spaces, it was fun and she was convinced the result was a lot better than more simpler moves, maybe not really but it was fun.

It was in the 80 minutes when they got another goal. It was Mal header courtesy from once again Valentina, she was sure busy that match assisting in five out of six goals. The scores held in 6 to 0 in their favor until the final whistle.

They were all jumping and screaming before coach told them to shake hands with the officials and opponents, telling them to thank them. And they did just that, nobody wants to do some punishments in the middle of a tournament, and they knew, coach will actually make them do it even when they have another match in two days.

She went to the officials and shook their hands “Good work kid, you deserve it.” the referee told her before giving her the match ball.

Juliana was confused on why they gave her the ball until Valentina walked up to her and answered the question in her mind “It was the hat trick, its tradition to give the match ball to the player who get a hat trick.” She said, apparently the girl can read her mind now.

They went back to the locker room and changed, it was rowdy and there were a lot of screaming in there. She usually hates crowd but, in that moment, together with them celebrating their first win was a really good feeling to her.

After the buzz died down a little, Valentina took a marker and asks for her ball, she wrote something on it before passing it to everyone to write something on it and sign it, before giving it back to her. it was a really sweet gesture and Juliana really appreciates it, she was grateful for her team and her friends.

‘Here’s to many more to come. V’ she read, and there are a lot more on it, she was getting emotional and doesn’t want to cry so she throws herself to her best friend for a hug. Which then the team decided they don’t want to be left out and made it a group hug, it was sweaty and smelly and a little gross but she doesn’t care. It was a great day and she was having an amazing moment with her friends.


	16. Chapter 16

Valentina was tired and cannot wait for their trip to check out the stingray city later. They had a tiring week where they played three matches for the group stage, but thankfully were lucky enough to get into group A, they had an extra day for recovery before the knockout stage and the team wanted to do some activities together before they go back to the pitch to check out the last two matches from the second group.

They had practically three back to back matches with only one day of recovery in between, it was demanding and Valentina starting to feel the exhaustions catching up to her. She did everything she could for a speedy recovery between the matches, but they still had team meetings for their next match and recovery on top of that in a day.

Valentina felt a little aching on her legs after yesterday match, so the extra day of rest was really appreciated. She knew going in it was going to be a compact tournament with very little time and demanding for her body, she prepared for that. In fact, she expected to feel the burden sooner. But she knew she can make it to the end still in good condition.

She was aware of the physical extortions that the tournament would demand from every player that plays, but there was another thing that hit her by surprise and it does stretch her thinner than her tired body. She wasn’t aware how demanding the tournament was for her mental health, it really does make her grow not only as a player but as a person.

Their second match against Jamaica was a challenge, they still won 4 to 0 but it was a tough fight. It seems like the Jamaica’s team studied their last match extensively, because from the start of the match they played like another team altogether from their own previous matches. they were really good at reading the plays, intercepting and keeping the ball. They lost possession of the ball a lot more than what she would’ve liked, and created less chances for their own attack. They got 6 chances and only two for Juliana which she put both in, it was considerably less than their last match.

That irked Valentina so much, she watched the game the night and picked everything that she should’ve done instead of what she did that match. She saw that there were some hesitation from most of her teammates when she played the ball to them, maybe it was nerve or maybe she played too fast, maybe she really shouldn’t do some of the tricks that she did to shake off the defenders because it does messed up their timing, or maybe she should’ve just get better so she can play simpler and more efficient for her team too.

It was a long night full of maybes; she wasn’t used to this. Well she was, but not to this level. She always analyses her own games but usually the game was always on her pace and control, and unless she can be at two places at once it wasn’t her fault that her forward can’t finish a simple tap in.

But this one wasn’t like the other ones she played before, this time she got an amazing team and friends, this time they had the skills necessary to pull off what she had in mind. Yes, most of them cannot read the game as well as she does, but that just prove how bad she was at her position. It doesn’t matter that they haven’t play together long enough to get used to each other, it doesn’t matter if they had a big ball of nerves in their throat when they play, it doesn’t matter at all. It was her job to be the bridge for that, to translate for them and to guide them. Because in the end, it was her job to make her teammates looked good, and hearing her coach and team told her she did great was sickening, when in fact she played badly.

That morning after one look Juliana asked her about it, but she said it was nothing and they moved on for the day with recoveries, rests, and team meetings. But it seems Valentina's mood wasn’t changing throughout the day. Juliana sit her down that night to ask her again, at first, she wanted to avoid it like before but seeing Juliana's questioning gaze and the squeezes on her hand, made her spilled what’s inside her mind.

Valentina told her about what she thinks about the match and her performance, how bad she played and all, asking for the girl to see it the same way and maybe even blame her for it. But after she said everything she needed to say she saw Juliana silent for a few minutes.

It was a long few minutes that she actually dreading to get what she wanted in the first place, it was weird and confusing.

At last Juliana said “Well, let’s get better together then. If your performance was that bad then I must have like a ton of things I should’ve done too.” Valentina wanted to protests but Juliana wasn’t finished. “I know how much you hate being the best and how lonely it made you feel, I know sometimes you wished that you are as good as everyone else’s on your team so you can fit well together. There always will be another puzzle that fit your piece better, so don’t just cut it for a puzzle that clearly isn’t a good fit. So, just because they cannot keep up doesn’t mean you have to stop getting better so you can fit them. You have to keep growing on your own, yes sometimes in a match you have to be considerate of the team’s standard so the chemistry doesn’t break but that’s a grey line though, pushing that can be a good motivator for the others too.”

“But I like this puzzle, it has you in it.” Valentina said

“Well, I know for a fact that I am still growing. If you are afraid of being lonely trying to get to the top don’t be. Now that you know me, we can be at the top together.” Juliana said.

It was a good talk that helped her alleviate some of the mental burden Valentina placed on herself, she knew it was unnecessary but she just couldn’t help it.

The next match against Guatemala was a fun one. She tried to give passes that each of them likes and not how she thinks will be the best and practical ones, it actually does made them plays better and more comfortable with the ball but it was really exhausting for her and she knew that she wouldn’t be able to do it again and pull it off, there were just too many things that she had to put on top of the massive things she had to think about in a match. But it worked, they sweep the floor off with the score of 10 to 0.

Juliana was close to their 10 goals bet, at first Valentina thought the number was too high because usually the top scorer of a tournament scores around 6 to 9 goals, so 10 was just a number she threw out randomly, she was thinking of giving the videos and photos to Juliana anyway. but she did believe the girl could do it after seeing the determination on her face in the plane, and after the first match she was sure it was only a matter of time before the girl hit her mark.

Valentina knew Juliana was good before, but the fact that there weren’t any wasted chances from her was amazing. Juliana put the only two chances for her against the Jamaica into net, and she contributed three more in their big win against Guatemala. The second most scorer at the time in the tournament which was Lindsey only got four goals after the third game, it was still an amazing feat but seeing it next to Juliana’s it doesn’t look that enticing anymore.

The wins and scores were good for their confidence and to make them play a lot more comfortably. Valentina hoped it transfers to the knockout stage.

It’s the day after their last group match, and it was their extra rest day because it’s still game day for the other group. And Valentina intended to make the most of it.

Valentina slept in, she got an extra two hours of sleep and woke up to an empty room. Juliana was probably getting her breakfast already, so she decided to just shower and get ready for her treatment and recovery before going snorkeling and swimming with stingrays together with the team later in the afternoon. She was looking forward to it, she loves travel and exploring it’s the reason she wants to learn how to fly so she can just do it whenever she wanted to.

~

“Why are you so jumpy?” Valentina asks Juliana, they were in their room after getting back from lunch to get ready for their trip.

Juliana startled a little before answering “No I’m not”

Valentina took a second to observed her roommate “You looked like you just took an extra pack of oreo from the snack table and got away with it.”

Juliana laughed nervously “No I didn’t.”

“Didn’t get an extra pack or got away with it?” Valentina said eyeing the girl suspiciously

Juliana sighed and sat on the bed. “It’s not that.”

“What is it then?” Valentina asked

“You know that we are supposed to go swimming with stingray.” Juliana said slowly

Valentina looked unamused as she just pulled a shirt over her bikini after showing it to the girl “Are you having second thoughts?”

Juliana nodded her head

“Are you afraid of the rays?” Valentina asked again

“No..” Juliana said meekly

“Are you going to get seasick?”

“I don’t know about that; we will see later I guess.” Juliana said shrugging

“Well what is it then?”

Juliana still not saying a word, if anything she was getting shy with a tint of red on her cheeks and neck

Valentina turned to the girl that was sitting on her bed fidgeting with her hand, she sat beside the nervous girl and took her hand to stop the fidgeting and getting her attention. “Tell me”

“Val” Juliana said

“What?”

“I can’t swim.”

Valentina took a second to process what she just heard, before she snorted and laughed much to Juliana’s embarrassment. She was having a hard time to control her laugher

“Yeah just laugh at it will you. It’s not like I’m here embarrassed.” Juliana said trying to get up and go to the bathroom, maybe if she stays there long enough, they will leave her and went without her.

Valentina catches Juliana’s hand and pulling her down to sit again “I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting that.” She said out of breath. “I just thought you can do anything and everything perfectly.”

Juliana just lift an eyebrow a little amused by the confession.

Valentina looked a little take back by what she just said and decided to just go with it “Have you look at yourself? You practically glowing with perfection.” She said with a proud beam on her face.

Juliana laughed. “You dork.” She said and hit the still beaming girl with a pillow

Valentina dodged it and continue the conversation “Okay so, do you want us to go do something else?”

“No, its okay, you go with them ill just stay here and rest.” Juliana said

“Oh come on, we are going to be on a sandbar and its shallow, you are going to be okay.” Valentina said trying to get Juliana to come. “I promise I won’t let you drown, and if you decided not to get out to the water you can just stay on the boat and eat snacks.”

“That sounds good. I guess I’ll come, but I will decides later if I wanted to swim or not.” Juliana said

Valentina nodded with a smile “I think I need to teach you how to swim when we get back.”

“I’d like that. Thanks.”

“It’s a promise then.” Valentina said then she noticed the bulge on Juliana’s trainer and before the girl could react she reached and grabbed it out “Are these oreos.” She said holding two packs of said snack in her hand

“No, they’re not.” Juliana said refusing to even look at her direction

“Juliana.”

“Hey it was sitting right there ready to be grabbed and eaten. What am I supposed to do?”

“And the extra one?”

“There are no limitations on how many we can get. And you know how rare these things are in camp by how quickly it disappears. I was lucky enough to get two, and I got one for you.”

Valentina doesn’t believe that for a second, so she stared blankly at Juliana

Juliana huffed “Okay, I may or may not planning to accidentally eat yours myself.”

Valentina just burst out laughing, she knew Juliana loves the snack and it’s the only snack that she wouldn’t share to anyone. She gets it though; she feels the same way for her KitKats.

~

Valentina was enjoying the breeze of the ocean, as they were on the boat going to the place where the stingrays resides.

The team and some of the staff was there to keep an eye on the teenagers making sure they didn’t do anything stupid or illegal. Valentina was sure that they won’t do anything illegal that jeopardize their tournament and for the stupid stuff, stupidity is a spectrum that’s all she can think about.

People were excited about the trip and the opportunity to let loose and relax from the tournament even just for a bit. The boat was moderately big but fitting more than 20 people on it made it feels smaller than it actually was, especially with how energetic the girls were its getting rowdy and a little cramp.

Valentina was sitting and watching the shenanigans that happens even before they arrived at their destination, filling in to the conversations and jokes on the boat. Laughing at how Lindsey already in her wetsuit with her snorkel gears on ready, she even demonstrated and showing how she would swim and be the best of friend with the stingrays in the middle of the boat, she was the only one in a wetsuit or even the only one that changed for that matter it was ridiculous.

It took them around fifteen minutes until they reached the place dubbed the stingray city, it was a shallow sandbar around three feet deep with really clear blue water, Valentina can already sees the stingrays coming to gather around near their boat, probably they already associated the sound of the motor with food or so she thought.

It didn’t take long before people stripped to their bikini and jumped out to swim and pet the stingrays. Valentina looked around to find Juliana was still in her hoodies sitting with no intention of getting up.

It took another reassurance and a promise of snacks before Juliana willing to try and get out of the boat to the water.

Valentina helped her to the water, or more exactly she carried Juliana in her arms.

At first it was the water and the prospect of swimming, but after seeing the stingrays closer she stiffens up in Valentina’s arms and holding the girl for dear life. “Please don’t drop me.” Juliana said tightening her hold of Valentina’s shoulder for support before hiding her face in the crook of Valentina’s neck.

“I won’t. don’t worry.” Valentina said, as she walked closer to where the team was petting and feeding the stingrays. She nudged Juliana with her cheek, “look at them, they are really cute.”

Valentina felt the girl took a quick peek before going back to her position, it made her smile seeing the girl’s antic.

It was sudden. Valentina felt a pair of hands on her sides and tickling her, she was surprised and her reflects worked against her, before she knows it, she saw Juliana dropped from her arms right to the water followed by her squeak and laughter from behind.

She turned around and saw Lindsey and Rose holding each other gasping for air because of their laugher, she turned again to check how Juliana was doing and saw she was still sitting and her eyes were full of surprised and disbelief. Their eyes met for a couple of second before they charged to the laughing duo together tackling them and tickling for revenge.

it wasn’t long before the team joined in and they had an impromptu tickle war, complete with teams, allies, and betrayals. It was chaotic and fun, and Valentina thought she saw their guides moved away from them to bring the stingrays out of the way.

In the end it was a really nice afternoon closed with all of them sharing and eating snacks on the boat on their way back to the town.

~

It was dark on the bleacher and the air was a little chilly. It’s the last 15 minutes of the last match in the group stage of Cayman Islands against Honduras. Most of her teammates already called it a night after the first half concluded with two goals from Honduras, it was more for pride though at this point. The two teams that went to the knockout stage was already decided and it’s not them.

Valentina was one of the few from her team that wanted to watch the game till it concluded, she knew even if she was tired, she still wanted to play and watching the game was the closest thing she get to do at the moment. She was sure the other four of her teammates that are there would agree with her, judging by how loud they were with every moves and shoots happening in the field.

Valentina thought it was funny how Lindsey, Rose, and Mal had a team that they choose to cheer but Juliana were cheering for both of the team. She watched as Juliana’s faced keep shifting from one expression to another, how the girl was confused whether to be sad when someone stole the ball or be happy for the one that got it. In the end Honduras scored another goal last minutes to conclude the match as their win with 3 goals to nothing, and she just realized she wasn’t paying much attention to the match. She wasn’t sure why, but her gaze always drifted to Juliana all night long and she thinks she ended up watching the black-haired girl more than the match.

They decided to walk along the beach back to the hotel. Valentina walked slowly and quietly beside Juliana, while their teammates walked a little distance ahead talking and teasing each other.

“Juls.” Valentina said

“Yeah Val?” Juliana answered looking at her

“I’ve been thinking.”

Juliana waited for her to continue

“Are you serious? The thing you said about being with me at the top. Is that for real?”

Juliana stopped and turned to her and taking her hands “Of course, you are my best friend now and I will always try to be there for you.”

Valentina was taken by the proclamation and she can only smile to Juliana. Her mind was too happy to form any sentences for a reply

Seeing her wasn’t answering Juliana continues “in fact, let’s forehead promise right here and now.”

“Okay” Valentina said, she had no idea what forehead promise even mean but she just went along with Juliana when the girl step into her personal space in front of her, she felt Juliana took her hands in her own and touched their foreheads together. She felt her breath left her. it wasn’t the first time they were as close as this, they talked really close on one of their bed before. But this was the first time they acknowledge it.

Valentina felt the small sigh from Juliana before she heard the words the girl said “Valentina. I promise that I will always try to be there for you to infinity and beyond. That includes being the best at kicking ball together too in case you need clarification.”

That was the sweetest thing Valentina ever heard said to her, and she felt just how big her smile was at that moment, Valentina linked their pinkies before adding. “To infinity and beyond for me to you too.” They stayed like that for a few more seconds smiling at each other “That was so cheesy, I freaking love it.” Valentina said and they burst out laughing.

“Maybe you should go to the moon, I heard it was made from cheese.” Juliana said looking at the round thing over the ocean

Valentina turned to see it “Only if you come with me.” she said back before they continued their walk back to the hotel.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all of the mistakes are my own

“Mom, guess what.” Juliana said right after the video call connected.

_‘hello to you too darling, I’m doing fine by the way thanks for asking.’_ Lupe said teasing her, she can hear Valentina snickered behind her

Juliana scratched her neck a little embarrassed “Hi, I’m sorry I was too excited.” She said

“Hi Lupe.” Valentina said, Juliana could see her waving to the camera from the little feed of them on her screen.

_‘Hello Valentina.’ _Lupe said waving at them too, with a little look to Juliana that goes unnoticed by her.

“I’m going to call my dad.” Valentina added waving goodbye before leaving the room with her iPad.

“Anyway, guess what happened mom.” Juliana went back to her excited self.

_‘did you lose?’ _she guesses

Juliana looked at her unamused

_‘what? You told me to guess, I guessed.’ _Lupe said with her own straight face that quickly breaks and she was grinning at Juliana’s expression.

“that’s not funny you know.”

_‘okay, okay. I’m sorry, now tell me this exciting news.’_

Juliana grinned “We won the semi-final against Trinidad and Tobago.” She said proudly

_‘That’s great, your team must really appreciate your cheering skills then.’_

Juliana looked really offended by that she wanted to protests but her mom beat her to it saying _‘Sorry that’s the last time, couldn’t help it darling. I just miss you so much, tell me more about the game.’_

“We won; we beat them 8 to 0. Lindsey scored one header and a really cool shoot from outside the box and Mal scored one too. it was a really good match; our passes were on point and I was playing a little back to help with the build up and that was really fun, and as usual Valentina was amazing with her passes and decisions making.” Juliana paused to catch her breath

_‘Wait a minute who scored the rest?’ _Lupe asks

“Oh, I did. But anyway, Val’s assists were unbelievable, she did this one outswing cross from the midfield.” Juliana said but after looking at her mom’s confused face she elaborates. “Outswing cross is when a player kicks the ball to the center of the field with a ball that curves slightly away from the goal, the one where it looked like a banana. So, it looked like the ball is going to turn around and away from the goal. Usually a right footed player does it from the right side of the pitch and vice versa so it was easier for them to perform.” She explained yet still unsure if Lupe understands it she continues “Anyway, she did this one really precisely that all I had to do was run straight and nod my head down when the ball came, I really didn’t think that I would score a header at all this tournament with my height and all. I swear the girl is a genius mom.” she finished excitedly

_“that’s amazing. Anyway, how are things there? Did you eat and sleep enough? Are you ready for the final?” _Lupe asked, trying to steer the conversations back to a topic that she understands.

“Things are good, and yes we eats a lot and sleep enough, that was a requirement from the trainers actually. And I can’t wait for the final mom, it's just.” Juliana hesitated before changing her mind “Thank you for letting me go here mom, this is so much fun.” She said instead with a big smile on her face.

If Lupe noticed the hesitation, she didn’t let it show instead she said _‘Of course, Juls.’ _Lupe smiled back

They talked some more, as Juliana talked about the tournament and her friends there or anything that happened during the week. Lupita told her about the visits from Panchito and the twins where they went and explore the city, she told her about when they tried ice skating for the first time and after an adorable 30 minutes of trying the managed to stand up on their own and move a little, then Riley’s declaration of them being the future pro ice skater. It was after some more conversations and telling they loved each other that they ended their call.

Juliana laid back on to the bed after the call ended, she was thinking at the possible future of her and her mom’s life with Panchito and his family as they seem to get more serious when she heard the door to the room opened and closed softly.

“How was the call?” Valentina asked, as she put down her iPad on the small table before sitting on her bed.

“it was okay, nothing much really, we talked about the game and her small holiday adventure with Panchito and the twin.” Juliana said, she felt something fell onto her stomach and pull it to her face to see what it was. She smiled when she saw that it was a small packet of cracker, she was really getting spoiled by Valentina. “how was yours?” Juliana asked back as she sat up and started to open her treat, she can think about the future later because right now she need to focus on the tournament and not thinking about serious stuff beside it.

“It was better than expected actually, dad got to talk for a few minutes. Congratulating me and telling how proud he was, then the usual questions to alleviate his worries you know, the ushe.” Valentina said, laughing at herself with her choice of word, she was picking up on the saying of the girls on the team, which Juliana too started to picked up little by little. “But he did say he had a surprise for me and that I was going to love him to eternity when I see it.” Valentina rolled her eyes here and a small smile at her dad’s theatric tendencies, now Juliana knows where her friend got it from.

“What do you think it is?” Juliana asks, she was curious and wanted to learn more about her friend, with reason unknown to her she really wanted to know as much as possible about Valentina.

“I don’t know, it’s hard to guess with him. The last time he surprised one of us was Christmas actually, he gave Eva a violin, I don’t really know much about the instrument as I don’t play it, I’m sure it was a really good one judging by the tear and the bear hugs Eva gave him. And that is coming from the girl who rarely get sentimental over a material thing, I mean she lost her Ferrari in a bet and doesn’t even blink.” Valentina said, and looking and the disbelief on Juliana face she continued “I know, I remembered because Lucia was pretty pissed at her that night and they weren’t really quiet either.” She shuddered at the memory. “Anyway, I can’t really guess what he did. He was really unpredictable with his surprises. But Mikaela assured me that it was a good one.” Valentina said, but she continued at the confusion in Juliana’s face by the unknown name. “Mikaela is his main personal assistant, but considering how long she was with my dad I her judgement on what considered a good and somewhat normal surprise are on point. She worked for him since as long as I can remember and tend to be an overachiever on her job. Okay maybe I should be worried.” Valentina finished her story with a worried look on her face.

“you are so weird...” Juliana teased and can only laugh at the weird world her friend lived in, “but good weird though, I like you already so that’s not going to change.” She added when Valentina pouted which turned into a smile

~

This was it, it’s the final match in the tournament. They already qualified for the world cup later this year, but Juliana wanted to win this, of course she does. She could tell that she wasn’t the only one, everyone has a determined look from that morning.

Thinking back, she wasn’t that big into winning or even scoring goals, she still doesn’t. but she was really big on playing the sport, practicing things she couldn’t do and getting it eventually, doing it in matches and the thrill when it works, playing as much as possible and having as much fun as possible while doing so. Winning wasn’t really on her mind until she realized some years ago in order to play more match you need to win, only the strong ones goes through to the end of the tournament playing as many matches as possible. That’s why she was willing to practice with Brian when he approached her and her school coach, she needed to be good to play more games in tournaments. She could just be content with playing on her neighborhood every day, but after seeing how much better the girls on that tournament and how much more fun it was, she decided to practice so she could join a good team and play on the highest possible level for the highest possible fun, at least that was her logic when she was young. Especially when they couldn’t afford a soccer club, and she was the only girl who is serious about the sport in her school. getting better on her own and hope for the best was her only choice.

Now though, after Juliana experience it again. The fun and the competitiveness of everyone in this tournament, the determinations, the energy around her when they scored a goal and won, the smiles on her teammates and friends faces. for the first time she wanted to win not so she can play more, but for her teammates who practiced everyday just to be there, for her new friends that loves the sport as much as she does, for Valentina and their promise.

Juliana was preparing her nerve, not because it was the final. But because of what comes after, she tried not to think about it though. How she won’t have them as a team to play together again for months until the world cup, even then it's not a guaranteed that she would be called up again. She said to Valentina that the puzzle has to fit the piece because she deserves the best, with how much talent the girl has, it should be a crime not to nurture it. For her though, she would take anything as long as she plays, and the possibility of not playing together with these group of girls again scared her a little. But for now, she has to get her head in the game.

Juliana looked around and everyone was dressed, but there was this weird uncomfortable air in the room. No one said anything and just awkwardly staring at each other. Thankfully before it could get any longer their coach burst into the room and gave them the speech they needed; it was a nice motivational speech about giving it their all so they don’t hang up at the result later.

~

They just broke off to their positions in the field after one last final huddle for the kick off. Juliana thought today was a good line up, they had Rose and Mal helping Valentina in the midfield, Lindsey and herself up front, and Cari had the help of five people on their back line. They will try their best to control possession hence the midfielders and forwards full of people who really good and comfortable with the ball, but they still expecting to have less possession with how patient and effective the Mexico have been playing all tournament long.

Plan was simple, rattle them in the first few minutes with a goal if possible. then try to make them play riskier and strike back fast and efficient, they were going to get impatient sooner or later when they are behind. so, we don’t need to take the risky moves when we knew that they will mark their playmakers heavily, meaning Rose, Valentina, and herself.

As usual Cari chose the ball over sides. Juliana looked around and saw her teammates were giving her nods, showing that they trust her to kick the plan into motion.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath; she heard the whistle and opened her eyes. She looked at Mexico’s keeper, she was ready. Since the first match, every team they played after have their keeper ready from the get go. It doesn’t matter though as she made her run up to the ball and kicked it, the ball flies just above the heads of the Mexico’s players before coming down just at the right moment for it to go just below the bar. it was a nice shot, but it's not enough for her. It didn’t go to the corner enough as there was some space left to the right post, seems like she has more practice to do, she knew Brian will be disappointed if he saw the shot heck she was disappointed.

She saw the keeper launched herself and get the touch needed to deflect the ball out of bound resulting in a corner kick. It went according to plan, or the first phase of the plan. But she was still a little disappointed when the ball didn’t get in.

They took their positions for the set piece they practiced. Usually Valentina have the duty to kick dead balls into play, but for this particular one its Rose. Valentina stayed near the corner, Juliana getting ready for a run to the 18 yards line at an angle from the other side, and the rest was inside the box for distractions and clearing traffic duty.

Pieces was set and whistle was blown. Rose hold up her hand for a signal and the box started to come alive, pushing and pulling each other. Rose gave a low pass with a small spin to Valentina where she sent it right away to the planned spot adding more spin to the ball just so they got it coming in at the right angle for Juliana. It took three seconds for the ball to be at the designated place, and that’s all the time Juliana had to lose her mark and be there to kick it.

When Juliana saw Rose’s hand, she started run to the box where as expected her marker suddenly ran to give chase, but that wasn’t where she was going and she quickly pivoted with her foot and span around the girl so she was going to the right directions. Since she was the only one between them that knows where the ball was going, she had the advantage and her marker was caught of guard with her maneuver she was a step behind her which was plenty of space for her to send the ball in.

Kicking a ball is hard, a lot of people think you only need strength to do it. but that’s where they are wrong, kicking a ball is around 90 percent technique and 10 percent power. They can kick a ball as hard as they want but that wont make the ball flies to where it should be, controlling the trajectory and in the end accuracy all come down to techniques, where you kick the ball, with what part of you foot, how your run up should be, how your follow up should be, it's all a lot more complicated than what people think. That’s what Brian told her at least, he said she was gifted enough to know those things instinctually, she doesn’t really understand it but they still practice a lot of shooting.

Kicking a volley on the other hands are much much harder, because it was more unpredictable and when the rotations of the ball got introduced on your formula it's just a nightmare to think about. It was the reason why a lot of people misses a shot completely when it looked like an easy one, where the ball flies up high and above the bar even they are only 4 yards in front of the goal.

It was the reason why Valentina insisted on the spins for the set piece, it was to make the ball practically come right at her from the front rather than just passing her from right to left or vice versa, it was a lot easier to shoot and it does eliminate the margin of error as much as possible which much appreciated for a volley kick.

Even with all of the preparations done the ball still need to be kick, and it was her job. She saw the ball coming and adjust her run up for the best possible spot, because that sweet spot only happens for a fraction of a second and Juliana wanted that.

She kicked the ball and felt it was a good kick, she knew it was going in before it even left her foot. Sometimes when you practice something so much and the time comes, then you did it right and it felt right, you just knew. The ball flew with above the players to the top corner where it came from and went in after hitting the inside of the post. The keeper had no chance as she was forced to change her positions again and before she could react the ball already there out of her reach.

That felt good, and as usual, Juliana throws a peace sign to the girl who fed her the ball with a big smile. She thought it was becoming her trademark thing to throw the sign whenever she scored a goal but she doesn’t mind it as her teammates ran at her and giving her hugs.

There it goes 3 minutes into the game and they have the lead just as planned.

~

As expected, it was a hard game throughout the first half. They didn’t get much possession and their frontlines keep getting pressured, Juliana had a shadow that keeps following her around wherever she goes.

Even Valentina constantly found herself surrounded and marked really well.

Their only influx of attacks was from Rose, she kept driving up front with the ball before bringing Lindsey or Mal into play or she shoot it herself. So far, they had around 5 shot on goal yet none went in.

Juliana knew it was only a matter of time before one slipped through the keeper though, a person can only take so much tests before they break.

Juliana can only watch and give as much support she could give, nevertheless, it was really frustrating for her. Yes she knew her movements when she was off the ball was still important and can be use to their advantage, and she did just that, she cleared the space with some movements somewhere trying to sell that she would be the target of the attack, basically she was a decoy to help reduced the defense from Mexico or at the very least stall some enough so her teammates have some space and time to went in to the box and attack. She knew it was important and helped her team, but she wished she could do more than that.

Juliana knew she wasn’t the only one stressed and impatient by the first half, she could see the sour look on Valentina's face to her markers. She didn’t blame her though, she knew how is it to feel useless because you can’t do the job you had in the team, for her it was scoring and for Valentina was, she's not really sure. A bridge? A connection for the team? Whatever it was the effect when the Mexico shut her down was really palpable in the first half, and their team just doesn’t work well maybe even at all.

Something needs to change so they can get a more comfortable lead than right now. Yes, they rattled Mexico and they should be feeling a little desperate sooner than later and starts to play riskier and in turn more likely to make mistakes.

Without any solid way to get more goals for themselves was worrying, Juliana knew how just one slip up from them and the tides of the game will change just like that, and it’ll be a lot harder to score. They need something so their attacks could be more effective like it was in their previous matches.

“Okay, listen up girls.” Coach Michelle said walking into the dressing room. She went in front of the whiteboard where their formation and strategy for the game was written.

“I know it was a hard game and frustrating for you, especially with two of your teammates couldn’t do anything.” She said looking at Juliana and Valentina, she made some changes to their formation, it was 4 4 2 now instead of the 5 3 2 from before, and she drew a diamond midfield. “Cari, I want you to play in CDM, so you will basically take over Valentina's job from deep.” She pointed to the dot just above their defensive four. “Mal and Rose, you will play the wingers and as an out when the pressure was too much to handle from the center.” This time she points to the two dots above Cari's. “Valentina you will play as CAM and our focus point of attacks.” She taps the last dot on their midfield. “Now, I want you.” She pointed at Lindsey “to swap position with Juliana and stayed between their lines, creating space and be at the right place at the right time for rebounds and opportunities in front of goal.” She said to Lindsey who gulped and nodded. Then she turned to see Juliana “Juliana you come back more than your usual post and help Valentina with the attacks, both of you hogs the ball as much as you want as you have an out for when its overwhelming and by that point the rest of the team will be free as a bird, don’t worry Cari will focus to get the ball to you girls. I know you both can take them on, right?” she asked and the two of them can only nodded before got asked again and shouted their answer. “let’s put the two baits together and see who’s going to eats who.” She said smirking and laughing at herself, while the rest of them swallowed their words and go along with her. Their coach could be scary sometimes when she wanted to. “Now for player changes.”

~

At first Juliana thought that it was an insane plan, teetering on the realm of insane enough it might work. And all it come down to her and Valentina’s ability on the ball together, she’s not gonna lie and said she was confident that they can pull it off right away. She did pass two or three defenders alone throughout the tournament, but she always got overwhelmed when the fourth comes to box her in, and what they are attempting to do will probably drag every defender and then some to them. It was a crazy plan and for a moment there she thought their coach has gone mad, but she couldn’t back down now. Especially after she basically said they can do it when Rose and Lindsey teased her, asking if she was scared and needed a role change.

Apparently confident was the key, and she knew why Coach did it. it was insane to think that she would risk a final to train them, but that doesn’t really bother the former USWNT team member. And they did grow throughout the second half of the match.

The first fifteen minutes was the hardest though, they played together and Juliana likes to think that their chemistry was up there, but it wasn’t enough, they weren’t used to play this close at each other together. They lost the ball a lot, either from miscommunication or the pace simply just too slow.

It was getting better though, they were getting a lot more comfortable with each other timings, style of plays, and pace, and somewhere along the way they started to realized that they can just pushes and keep pushing the pace and the other still able to keep up. Around thirty minutes into the second half when Juliana got her chance, it was the first time they really broke through from the middle instead of choosing to get help from Rose or Mal.

Juliana made a turn around the last defender before she saw the ball that Valentina has served her, and in her excitement for the first real chance she got from the start of the match she forgot to look up, instead she relies on her memory on the last time she looked right before she turned. It was a stupid mistake and one that she knew better to commit, because of that she was unaware of the keeper position and shoot to where she knew the upper corner would be.

Unfortunately for her that was exactly where the keeper was standing and it was an easy parry for her as the ball coming straight to her face. But unfortunately for the keeper she chose to catch it, and it didn’t go as plan as the ball slipped through her gloves and hit her face, she did turn her head so it didn’t hit her nose and after going through her hands the ball power lessened considerably. But the bright red mark on her left cheek and the look she gave Juliana made her a little guilty, as she waved awkwardly at the keeper mouthing sorry and went back to her position.

Juliana was pretty sure that was the only chances she had that she didn’t score in the tournament. In the last fifteen minutes of the match she got three more chances which she scored, she made sure to looked up to know where the keeper was and would be, information was one of the most important variables in the sport after all.

in the last minutes of the match her teamwork with her best friend was at a whole another level, she felt like they had no right to make it feel that easy, they tore through the Mexican defense like hot knife cutting butter. They played really well into each other, with one anticipating the other movement and compliment it before it even happens, it's just one big smooth play that seemed to be rehearsed hundreds of times before, yet they do it constantly and quickly too, they played so fast and well-coordinated that most of the defender doesn’t have time to react or just stood rooted in their place. It was amazing what one person with chemistry, teamwork, and similar skill level as the other can do to their plays, she felt like she was suddenly ten times better than she actually was.

Juliana had to admit, not that she was willing to say it out loud, but she was having so much fun that she forgot that she had more teammates other than Valentina. As such she thought that Valentina made a bad pass until she saw Lindsey came in and shoot it, it was after they got their four to nothing lead that they got in ten minutes with five minutes to spare. She felt guilty that she had so much fun she basically forget her team that she decided to give them their chances to score for the rest of the game, from the small smile she saw Valentina sent her she knew she wasn’t the only one having the issue of the forgotten teammates.

The match ended with the final whistle; Juliana almost didn’t hear it. but she knew it ended when she felt a body clashed to her from behind hugging her, it was Mal and the girl was screaming right behind her ear. She barely registered the sound either, as she stood rooted on her spot still high on adrenaline from the match. that was a damn good match, and she was actually sad that it ended. Even though they won she was really disappointed as she felt like she could go for three more hours of that, or she should go three more hours of that.

But she couldn’t, so she throws her hands open when more teammates came in crashing for a celebratory jumping and screaming. Seeing the faces around her and their energy was enough to lift her spirit up from her little disappointment, as they celebrated, congratulating, and hugging each other.

Juliana felt proud, as they got presented by their medals. She felt proud when they lifted their trophy together, it was huge and looks like an upside-down cone that supposed to be a cup with wings and it was the coolest thing she ever saw. She felt proud when they walked around the pitch thanking the people who came and watch their match, she hoped they had as much fun as she did. She felt proud to call the girls around her, her teammates and friends as they worked hard together for this moment. She was really proud when she called Lupe to tell her the news in the rowdy dressing room.

Coach came in and gave them a speech of how proud she was of them, seems like that was the theme for tonight as they all including their head coach beamed to the camera with their medals on their necks and their trophy in the middle. It was an amazing night one that she won’t forget anytime soon maybe even ever.

~

It was late into the early morning. Juliana and Valentina were still talking in hushed excitement through the night. They had a secret party in Lindsey’s room where they just vacated from around midnight. But they were still high from the match that they just couldn’t sleep, they didn’t even feel the slightest bit of tired.

They resulted in dancing together with half an earphone each from Valentina’s phone, they danced through everything from upbeat pop songs to the slow songs, or Juliana danced and Valentina tried her best to follow and trying to learn dancing in one night.

They danced so much that Valentina was decent enough when they got into their last song, Juliana never heard of the song as she heard the guitar started picking up.

Juliana saw how Valentina’s face light up when she heard the opening of the song, the girl gave her a small shy smile before surprising her by leading the dance.

Juliana was surprised even more when Valentina started singing the song softly, she heard the girl murmured the lyrics of the songs before but never actually sing it.

_We’ll do it all, everything, on our own_

_We don’t need, anything, or anyone_

Juliana was enchanted, she didn’t know that her friend was a good singer.

_I don’t quite know, how to say, how I feel_

_Those three words, are said too much, they’re not enough_

Valentina’s voice was soft and soothing and so calming.

_Let’s waste time, chasing cars, around our head_

_I need your grace, to remind me, to find my own_

Juliana can only close her eyes and enjoy the dance and the secret angelic voice of her friend. It was the only thing she could focus on at that moment.

_If I lay here, if I just lay here_

_Would you lie with me, and just forget the world?_

They danced through the song until the last chorus where Valentina smiled and pulled her on the bed as she sang the lyric softly.

Juliana stared at Valentina in amazement for a few second before a breathless ‘wow’ slipped through her lips, she cleared her throat “That was, I didn’t know you can sing like that Val, that was amazing.” She compliments her friend

Valentina tell her thanks with a small tint of red on her cheeks, before she burst out laughing. “You know, you should be glad. You are the first and maybe only person who will ever hear me sing.” She said

“I am honored, princess.” Juliana said with a smile at her little teasing on the nickname. But on more serious note, she doesn’t know why she was the only person who ever heard Valentina sang, but she truly was honored to be the person the girl trusted enough for it.

And that concluded their dance session and the beginning of their long talking session that night, it was full of random conversations about everything and nothing at all, they talked well into the early morning until they fell asleep tangled up like they did nights before which felt like it felt like been forever ago.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully i wrote the conversations good enough, as i wanted to make more of them in future chapters.  
and the song used is. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol.


	18. Chapter 18

Valentina startled awake by the knocking on their door.

“I’m up, I’m up.” Valentina said clearly not loud enough for the person to hear, she detangled herself from the still sleeping Juliana who doesn’t look like she’s waking up anytime soon.

Valentina opened the door and found a phone pointed at her, and two of her teammates giggling, probably because of her bed hair which she tried to discreetly fix with one comb with her hand trying to act it out like she was annoyed at them, well she did but not that much and judging by their chipper state already its well pass wake up time. “What do you girls want?” she asked them.

“I told you princess was still sleeping, she needed her beauty sleep.” Lindsey said to Cari who still has her phone recording.

Already used to their teasing Valentina just keep staring at them as they still haven’t answered her question.

“Relax Valentina this is just my documentation for my captain log this year, I decided to make one just like pirates.” Cari said.

“Or any other maritime transportation.” Valentina said unamused if this was the reason, they wake her up.

Cari turned her phone around to film herself before saying. “and that’s our residence genius Valentina, well the term genius is relative as we are still trying to figure out how far the reach is outside of the soccer field.” Cari looked at Lindsey for confirmation and received one before she decided to give Valentina a break as she was the only one who wasn’t laughing by their joke this morning. “Well, actually I’m not here to annoy you. You need to wake up, we are leaving in an hour.”

Hearing that Valentina eyes widen as she didn’t realize how late it was.

“And you probably need to pack asap, we plan to look for Juli and let her wake you up but we can’t find her this morning, she’s not in breakfast and no one saw her at all, and hence we are here. Is she inside?” Lindsey added

“why can’t you just lead with that? Yes, she is inside, and I need to pack, see you in a bit.” Valentina said and closed the door, she went back in to pack her things. she wanted to wake up Juliana but seeing as the girl already packed her things and how peaceful she’s sleeping she decided to let her be a little longer. Valentina thought her friend needed it as she rarely saw the girl sleep, and being her roommate, it was saying something.

~

The flight to Miami was a long one, Valentina who was already uncomfortable with her legroom and an empty stomach, she had to deal with Juliana with empty stomach too, and with how everyone else was still happy and on festive mood from their win, its just makes the flight that much more uncomfortable.

Valentina woke Juliana up when they got a word that they had to leave to the airport earlier than expected, which mean they had to skip breakfast and it was okay as Valentina thought she was going to get something in the airport for them instead. So much to Juliana’s displeasure of empty stomach they went to the airport to check in for their flight, but that’s where it went downhill, as there weren’t any places to eat anywhere because somehow someway all of them closed and the only one that open was a cake shop.

Since Valentina ran out of snack last night and she didn’t think of buying some yesterday, they were hoping for the inflight snacks would be enough to carry them to lunch.

Yeah, they didn’t get those too, so when coach said they are going to have their last team lunch before they meet again at next camp Valentina almost cried tear of joy, and she even heard a sniffle from Juliana.

They found a pizza place in the airport as most of them had a connecting flight that day, the pizza wasn’t as good as New York pizza but at that moment she doesn’t really care.

The big table that they put together by connecting different tables was lively, and full of laughter and stories about the tournament, even their coaches and staffs contributed their own stories. Valentina saw Cari still recording with her phone, the girl seems really taking her captain log thing very seriously.

It was around two hours later when most of the girls already left to catch their own flights, only two of them left with their coach and staffs, they are going for a night flight as it was better for them to wait as long as possible in case something happened in one of the girls flight.

“You two leaving together right?” Coach Michelle said to them

“Yeah.” Juliana answered, she was on her phone and enjoying her small snack. After lunch her mood changed considerably and she looked like she was content.

“When’s your flight, do you girls need help checking in?” Coach continued.

“Don’t worry about it coach, the plane’s here already. We are just waiting for Juliana to finish her snack and for Alerio, I texted him already.” Valentina said, looking at the confusion on Coach face she continues. “It’s a private plane my dad sent for me, and Alerio is my driver.”

Coach just smiled and shake her head. “Of course, I forgot. Oh, I just remembered, can you say thank you for your dad from me?”

“Uh, sure? What’s going on?” Valentina said, she didn’t know about anything her dad did that warrant a thank you from her coach.

“Oh, you didn’t know? He sponsored the NWSL with a big deal. It means a lot to a lot of people you know, and for the sport to grow in our country too. So, the least I could do is say thank you, but since there wasn’t really any probability of me meeting him in person, you are the closest thing. And lets be honest here, you are probably the reason he did it in the first place.” Coach said.

This was news for Valentina, it must’ve happened recently. And she had a lot of question for her dad when she got home. “Oh okay, I’ll tell him when I got home.” Valentina said as she spotted Alerio walking towards them

Coach seemed to catch what she was looking at and quickly said. “before I forget, I told Snow about you two. He is the head coach for the U17 national team, and judging by their finish last year in their qualifier for the world cup they needed all the help they can get. Just expect a call from him.”

“Whoa that’s cool.” Juliana said excitedly, already finished with her snack and started to get ready to go as she saw Alerio too.

“Yes, it is. Thanks coach.” Valentina added as she too getting up and checking for her luggage

“Okay then, take care girls. Keep practicing and eat healthy yeah.” Coach said just like they haven’t eaten their heart out in a pizzeria.

“Of course.” Juliana said.

They said their goodbyes to the trainers and other coaches and staffs before they followed Alerio who already took their luggage for him to carry.

~

Valentina was relaxing on her seat in her preferred kind of airplane, where she doesn’t need to worry about legs space and luggage limits and most importantly waiting and snacks.

The travel experience she just had with the team was her first time in a commercial flight in her life, she heard so many horror stories and honestly, she was kind of nervous about it. thankfully it went better than expected but it was still challenging to say the least, she’s just not used to it and hope to never had to in the future, but judging by what coach said to her and Juliana she had to start getting used to it. She knew that she was lucky enough to have a parent that is well off to say the least and not so many people were as lucky as her, and she was grateful for that. At least now she knows why her dad really appreciates time and time-saving so much.

These last weeks were a really good experience that she never knew she needed. Valentina didn’t realize how much she needed to meet someone that doesn’t look at her like she was only the product of her family’s money.

At first it was some kind of weird looks when she could just get in a club in the middle of the season, then she got a spot on the starting line up right away, and finally how good she was. She doesn’t really know or even understand why, Guillermo said they were just jealous so she should just ignore them and focus on herself. And she did, but that’s just put more distance between them and she more likely to snap when one of them couldn’t do their part properly or doesn’t even care, then it starts all over again from the beginning.

Valentina doesn’t want to admit it, but it was really exhausting mentally for her and every time she had to moved to another club, a little part of her that loves the sport dies over and over again. To be honest she was so close to giving up the sport altogether, as it doesn’t bring the same joy anymore like it used to. How winning wasn’t even fun but a chore she had to do, so she was dreading the talk with her dad. But then the opportunity for a camp came up to her, it was the last thing she wanted to give a chance before making up her mind.

And she was really glad. She found a team that accepted her and a best friend which she likes very much, and true not all of them in the same level in skills and talent, but all of them work hard and loves the sport. And that was enough for them to accept each other and work with each other, as those were the only things that matters to them, she was grateful for that.

Valentina looked in front of her to Juliana who’s been playing on her phone with her earphones on and absentmindedly munching on a massive cookie for a while now. Valentina just woke up from her nap so she doesn’t know how long the girl actually been on that thing or how many cookies that was.

Their friendship has come a long way for such a small time, Valentina felt like they have known each other for a longtime or maybe even a lifetime, its just amazing how the two of them just clicked into place and going stronger ever since. They had their differences that they still learning to navigate around each other, it was a lot better than the first few days when they were in camp, but it got better towards the end.

Valentina nudge Juliana with her foot before mouthing. ‘Where’d you get that?’ she pointed at the cookie, it looked delicious and she wanted one.

Juliana looked up from her phone and motioned to the galley with her head before continuing what she was doing on her phone.

Shaking her head, Valentina stood up and went to the galley. She wants that cookie and needed to check on something for her distracted friend. Valentina decided to give something extra for Juliana for her amazing 18 goals, she beaten the second-best scorer Lindsey Horan by 12 goals, that’s just crazy and needed to be rewarded especially after Valentina found out they didn’t have the individual player awards for the tournament. Which is why Valentina called Mikaela, her dad’s first assistant a few days ago to acquire the woman expertise to assist her on her plan.

Valentina walked into the galley. “Kristen?” she called for their family's full-time flight attendant that she knew from when she was still a little girl, she didn’t find her though. Instead she found a dark-haired and light skinned young woman was there instead, she was surprised when Valentina walked in. This flight attendant was relatively new, actually this was their second time flying together. She would remember, her dad always has a somewhat close relationship with the people who closely works for them on their well-being, so she picked up the habit of knowing them too from a young age.

“Oh, hi Kat.” Valentina called instead, relieved that she remembered the young woman’s name; she was still in her early twenties, but Valentina had a feeling she would be seeing her for a long time. her dad was like that, he values loyalty a lot. Which is why he loves to give a job to someone that needed it and willing to learn and do their job to their best of their capabilities, and he always told Valentina and her siblings to treats the people who works for them with kindness as it will always goes a long way. That’s why Alerio, Chivis, and some other people that works for her dad was quite old, they’ve been working for him for years, some even before she was born.

The dark-haired woman startled surprised before standing on attention, it made Valentina chuckled a little, Kat still looked nervous around her, it was understandable, she could only imagine what kind of lengthy interviews and briefings Jacobo their family’s head of security put her through before she got the job. “Yes, I’m sorry. Is there something you need Miss Carvajal?” The stewardess said.

“Please, don’t call me that. It feels weird, I’ve never get used to it, just call me Valentina.” Valentina said, before continuing. “Do you know where Kristen is?” she asked.

“Ms. McKenzie has to accompany your father to Chicago this morning, so I am filling in to attend you today.” Kat said

“Oh, alright. By any chance, did Mikaela handed something over to you before you left from New York?” Valentina asked, she wasn’t a hundred percent sure if Mikaela would hand it over to Kat or one of the pilots.

Kat thought for a second before answering “Yes, I just picked it up from the store this morning.” Kat said before she turned around and pulled a black bag from a compartment.

“Thank you.” Valentina said, she was excited to see the end product. Most of the time Mikaela do her shopping for her as she usually on the field practicing and she don’t like shopping that much, well that’s a lie, she loves shopping for the things she cares about like her football gears. Mikaela never disappoint so far, well she tends to do exceed expectation and sometimes went a bit far with the extravagant, maybe the by product of spending too much time with her dad.

Valentina took the bag and looked at it for a second, before she grins at Kat who was looking between her and the bag and taking out the box inside.

It’s a nice-looking black box with the name of the brand written on top, she opened it and pulled out another box. This time it’s a polished wooden box, if she found another box inside, she would be a little piss. She rolled her eyes and press the small button to open the lid, it was there in the middle, snugged right in its place by the cushions. She took it out from the box to inspect it.

It was a small keychain. Well, a custom keychain from a reputable jewelry company in New York but Juliana doesn’t need to know that particular detail. She’s confident that as long as it doesn’t have some shiny rocks or gold and looked like a perfectly normal keychain Juliana would like it. It’s a football shoe and a small ball with their initials J and V on it, well it was Juliana’s initials actually but she likes to think it was theirs.

It was meant to replace the golden shoe and golden ball awards that were missing from the tournament. Valentina knows that Juliana more than deserves it, so she decided to make it herself. Well the scaled down version of it and not made from gold, she had a feeling that Juliana wouldn’t like it very much, and the real trophy wasn’t from real gold anyway. So, she chose platinum instead, it looked like silver but better.

“Wow, that’s beautiful.” Kat whispered from beside her.

“It is.” Valentina whispered. “Thank you for picking this up.” She continued, she was going to go back to the cabin when she stopped and turned around to face Kat. “Oh, and can you get rid of the evidence?” she motioned to the boxes, there was no way she’s giving it to Juliana or even let her see it, it could give away the impression of the price of the gift and she’d probably refused to accept it, better be safe than sorry.

“You mean throw it away?” Kat asks.

Valentina nodded, looking at Kat hesitation she asks. “Why? What’s wrong?”

Kat seemed to hesitated before deciding to just say what’s on her mind. “Nothing, its just. It’s a nice box.”

“Oh, in that case you can have it if you want. Just don’t let Juliana sees it okay.” Valentina said before she walked back to the cabin.

Juliana was looking at her questioningly when she got back. “Did they run out? Cause I’m not sharing mine.” She said.

It took a second for Valentina to know that Juliana was talking about the cookie, she had forgotten about that. She laughed and shake her head.

Valentina decided to make it theatrical, with a grand gesture to distract her friend from detail of the item itself. With a grin on her face she stopped in front of Juliana and get down on her knee, she saw Juliana looked more puzzled than before. Lately, teasing her friend was fast becoming her favorites thing to do.

“Juliana, since the moment I met you.” Valentina started as she presented the keychain in her hand to Juliana.

“What’s this?” Juliana asked, she took a quick glance on the keychain before looking at Valentina’s face.

“It’s my proposal to you of course.” Valentina said trying to look offended before she cleared her throat.

Juliana cut her off before she continued her speech. “Seriously weirdo, what’s this?” Juliana asks again, she took another quick look before maintaining eye contact. Valentina could see the excitement of her friend for the keychain, she must’ve like it a lot.

Valentina huffed “Fine then, only you called someone weirdo when they are proposing.” She said pretending to be hurt but the smile on her face as she gets back to her seat betrayed her. “It’s your present.” She said as she dropped it into Juliana’s hand.

Juliana didn’t waste any time to looked at it from every angle. “It’s amazing, and really cool, and cute.” She said. “But what’s the occasion?” she asked, still turning it around in her hand.

“Its your bonus prize from the bet.” Valentina said, she was pleased with herself as she watching Juliana really like the keychain.

Juliana gaze snapped at her, eyes narrowing before saying. “I thought we agreed on some awesome photos for the bonus.” But she still took a few glances at her hands

“I was going to give you the videos and photos either way. And, since they didn’t give the golden ball and golden shoe awards. I thought why not you know; you need to be awarded for those amazing plays. I’m pretty sure you broke some sort of records with that many goals anyway. And it’s only a keychain, it’s not like I gave you a gold shoe or something” Valentina explained.

Juliana looked at the keychain again. “It’s perfect, I love it. Thank you so much.” She said with a big smile and lean in for a hug. “Knowing you, this probably an expensive thing that you tried to make it as plain as possible.” she whispered.

Valentina avoided eye contact while saying. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh, I have something for you too.” Juliana said, she stands up and went to get it.

They brought their baggage in the cabin; the plane has a considerably small storage area at the back. Since they both don’t have that much stuff, and there aren’t a lot of people in the aircraft, well there are basically only six aboard right now, two in the cockpit, one in the staff cabin, another in the crew area, and only two in the main cabin. Hence a lot of space in the cabin and they didn’t need to use the cargo bay. Yeah, she had an aircraft big enough to bring around 20 friends excluding crews with extra compartments and bedrooms at her disposal. Huh, maybe she was spoiled.

Valentina watched Juliana went back with her hands behind her back and a grin on her face, she saw Juliana got closer to her and took her previous seat in front of her, still hands behind her back. “What is it?” she couldn’t wait any longer.

Instead of answering Juliana just pulled out a ball from her back and put it in Valentina’s hand. “This, is for you. Consider it your golden ball, because we both know you will get that award if they have it.”

Valentina eyes widened when she saw the writings on it, it was one of the match ball Juliana earned throughout the tournament. “Juls, I can’t accept this.” She said slowly.

“Of course, you can, I have like three more of those. Besides this was the ball we played with on our first match together, and without you I wouldn’t be able to score the goals to earned it in the first place.” Juliana said, she rotates the ball.

It was a writing, Valentina remembered that one, ‘Here’s to many more to come’ she wrote it, there was a little V after it. Then she saw another writing she haven’t seen before, started just below the V, ‘Forever and always, to infinity and beyond. J’ that was just too sweet, she couldn’t help the tear in her eyes.

“See, I even put it specifically there. Its read ‘For V’” Juliana said while pointing at the spot on the ball.

Valentina couldn’t help but laughed at the girl antiques. She looked at Juliana for a moment before taking her in a tight hug. “Thank you Juls, I’ll keep it safe and cherish it.” she said


	19. Chapter 19

January quickly approaching to its end, and Juliana fell into a new routine without any hitch. Its been around a week since they’ve won the U20 CONCACAF and qualified for the U20 women’s world cup in Canada late that summer. It was still surreal to her, even after everything settled down and she had time to process everything that happened.

But before all that she had the U17 women’s world cup in Costa Rica this mid-march to early April. Just like coach Michelle said they did get a call from coach Snow to offer up the spots in the roster for them, that they whole heartedly said yes to. Now, they have another camp in Los Angeles next month with the team.

And because of that Juliana and Valentina were always together before and after school. Every morning Juliana started her day with a glass of water and a run, now joined by Valentina. They usually ran for an hour and a half covering quite a lot of miles, she doesn’t know and she doesn’t really care to count it, but judging by Valentina’s state after their first couple of runs it must’ve been quite a lot.

Then they have breakfast in Juliana’s home courtesy of Valentina who brought it with her, she even brought enough for Lupe, and with how busy and demanding Lupe’s work was the breakfasts really impressed her, she even said it was the best thing that has ever happened to her. Valentina and her mom hit it off easily too, even without the breakfast their tendencies to embarrass her or being embarrassingly proud of her plays was enough to make them fast friends. Watching one of their tournaments matches together with them was something she would avoid for the time being, she still feels her face burns thinking about that night.

Today was the first time she had something to do besides practicing football with Valentina or just being together with Valentina outside of school. She's going to meet some athletic trainers and hopefully decide to work with one, it's still concerning football and Valentina still going to be there with her, but she’s not complaining.

Juliana loves spending time with her new best friend, they spent so much time together they practically inseparable, and she wouldn’t take it any other way. Their practice sessions after school were intense yet fun altogether, Valentina decided to quit her club saying that she wanted to improve on her individual skills, techniques and some finer details that can only be worked on in small group of people or in this case two.

Brian was quite okay with the additional student; it works better too. Because now they can practice efficiently and focus on the things they want to improve, and having Valentina there help a lot with some things that quite honestly an old man like Brian having trouble to do. but he did told them that since they are getting serious and going to compete with the world’s best they need watch and take care of their body, which is why he suggested to find someone who can help them prevent injuries and help them recover from the intense trainings to come.

~

Juliana felt her neck strained when she looked up at the massive building in front of her. “Your dad’s office is in here?” she asked her friend. They were interviewing some trainers to help them with their training and making sure they have a good recovery and not over training themselves to death, just like coach Michelle strongly suggested, Juliana believed the woman can’t be clearer on the point of watching their physique and growth.

So, after a week of training together to the brink of exhaustion, Lupe had to put her foot down and talk with them about looking after their bodies and not overworking it. practicing together somehow made them practice a lot harder with new ferocity and more competitive towards each other, it was fun and exhausting at the same time, but Juliana always felt content at the end of the day.

Juliana even got a series of sad-looking emojis from Valentina one night when the girl got an earful about training too hard and ‘irresponsibly’. That was two nights ago, and now they are here on sunday morning, she was rather be somewhere else. Preferably a field with a ball to kick, but in order to do that she have to do this first, but they did ran here so it was quite okay she guess.

“Yes, this is where he works when he’s in town.” Valentina said as they went through the massive glass revolving door.

The sudden change of the atmosphere inside and outside was really surprising, the hustling and bustling of the pedestrians, the humidity and the noise of the city suddenly disappeared. There’s only some people Juliana could see. Two behind the big sleek-looking reception desk with a big ‘CH Carvajal Holdings’ written behind them, and around five other people scattered in one of the three sitting areas in the lobby.

The lobby was quiet and nice looking, that’s the only thing that comes to mind. With beige color marble looking wall and floor, at least she thought its beige, it’s a light-grayish yellowish-brown looking color. The décor was amazing too, with a massive ball looking lamps and even two sculpture on either side of the door, a big flower like plant on one end, and those big plushy coaches.

Juliana felt like running here was a wrong decision, looking at the receptionists with their immaculate suits she felt underdressed. She wears her USA team issued tracksuits and running shoes, and her sweats and out of breath state doesn’t really help either. She’s just thankful that she’s with Valentina right now, who still looked really good with her own tracksuits and out of breath state. In the back of her mind she knew that the office would be extravagant or in this case, a whole building. She’s just having a hard time wrapping her head on how wealthy her friend actually was, thankfully she’s not a snob or even flaunt her wealth around.

Juliana followed Valentina to the row of elevator, they got to the fiftieth floor. When they got out, a dark-haired woman probably in her forties was there waiting for them.

“At last you’re here.” The woman in a really nice work dress said to Valentina

“Mikaela, morning. This is Juliana.” Valentina said introducing her right away. “Juls, this is Mikaela.”

They exchanged their greetings and a firm handshake before walking to the conference room. Juliana saw some people were waiting in one of the rooms they pass by.

“Why do we need to do the interview here? Why do we need an interview in the first place?” Valentina asked

Mikaela seemed annoyed, Juliana suspects because it wasn’t the first time the questions were asked by Valentina in the last couple of days. “Firstly, your dad wants the best there is. Second, I need to clear the candidates first before you both choose. And lastly, I need to be present to take care of the details and contracts. I’m still your guardian princess, so please just don’t protests too much and make it easier for all of us.”

“I don’t need a guardian anymore; I’m almost in high school.” Valentina said

Mikaela looked at her apologizingly like she had a kid that’s misbehaving in a restaurant, it was funny for Juliana to see this side of Valentina. “We can agree to disagree on that. You are going to get a new guardian soon anyway, so can we please make this last days memorable?” The woman said sarcastically much to the annoyance of Valentina.

“Who?” Valentina asked right away

“Kat. She will be finished with most of her trainings by the end of the year.” Mikaela answered while holding the door to the massive conference room for them.

“The flight attendant? What kind of trainings?” Valentina asked again as they got into the room

“Yes and no, she’s not actually a flight attendant. Everything and anything deemed necessary by your dad and I, from protections to picking out trash.” Mikaela said flatly.

Juliana quickly checked out the impressive room, in the middle was a massive rectangle wooden table with 16 comfy looking chairs and a chandelier on top. Two sides of the wall were full with square slabs from different kind of rocks and some art works in front of it. and the remaining two sides were glass, first was to the hall and sitting area outside near the elevator. And the last one was full with floor to ceiling windows and amazing view to the city, she’s been here most of her life but she never had a view like this before. It was mesmerizing and she walked closer to admire it some more.

“You both now that I’m still in school, right? What do I need someone like that for?” Valentina said taking a seat, she sounded like she gave up arguing with Mikaela about the point.

“Exactly; besides, I have a feeling you will need someone like that soon.” Mikaela said she too took before proceeding to talk to the phone about them being ready.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Valentina asked but fell on deaf ears as Mikaela ignore the question, only gave her a knowing smirk before motioning to Juliana to take a seat besides Valentina.

“We’ll see. Remember, you girls don’t need to commit to one person right away, we will have a week of test run with the person of your choosing before we hire them. The most important thing right now is you are comfortable with the trainer, don’t worry about their qualifications that much as I made sure they do.” Mikaela said as the first person walked into the room with a folder in his hand.

It was a series of long interviews of people, and Juliana was starting to get tired with the same thing over and over again.

First Mikaela gave them a couple of tabs to look at the resume of the person coming in. Then said person come and talk about themselves and their program or strategy some more, before Mikaela asks some questions and Valentina asks follow up questions. She could asks some too but she just doesn’t know what to ask in these types of situations, Mikaela did say to just get familiar with them and pick out the 'vibe' because the woman made sure that each of the interviewees are qualified, it was weird and she doesn’t really know what that means and she took it as a nice person who pleasant to work with.

Juliana was ready for it to be over with, but she knew how important this is, everyone said they should look to keep improving but they really stressed the importance of doing it safely and right. Hence the long and boring interviews, full of words she doesn’t really understand fully. Like the first time she even got a wrap before training was in camp and that and the tournament was basically the only time she ever had an athletic trainer.

It was after the last candidate left that Valentina turned to her and asked “How about her?”

The person in question was one of the women from the candidates, most of them were women, probably because they are going to work in close proximity with them and same gender usually make people more comfortable. Juliana took the tab that laid forgotten on the table in front of her to look for the woman in question while saying “She’s okay.”

“that’s a really good answer for picking a person that we will have to trust with out lives.” Valentina said with a straight face, she must’ve didn’t like her answer.

Juliana just shake her head smiling at her friend’s antique before skimming the file.

Her name was Clara Akamine, she's Canadian-Japanese and looked like in her late twenties, there were no photo in the file but the brunette actually just turned thirty. She tall but not overly so, and she does look like she worked out. There was nothing much in her files, she didn’t put any past employments only the requirements she needed in order to get her degrees. And the woman has a lot of qualifications, its not like the others doesn’t have many, they do have a lot too. But hers dwarfed the others, she has a couple sports medicine degrees and a lot of other qualifications to compliment the area like massage therapist, nutritionist and personal trainer to name a few.

Juliana looked up to see Valentina was looking at her with an eyebrow raised, “Well?” Her friend asked

“She’s certainly qualified enough with the words I’m reading, how about you do you like her?” Juliana asked back

“Yes, she's certainly decorated enough, and she looks good.” Valentina said, then she realized what she just said “I mean she looks professional and knows what she's doing.” She corrected

Juliana looked at her holding back her amusement, it’s a rare thing to see Valentina flustered, even though she doesn’t really know why the girl react that way she's not letting a chance go without scoring. “You mean her jeans and leather jacket? Yeah she does look good in those.” She teased.

“Shut up. The question is do you think she can work with us?” Valentina asked again after she took a breath.

Juliana just nodded in agreement before Valentina turned to Mikaela and said. “It’s decided then, we'll work with her for the week and see how it goes. Can you take care of the details with her please?”

Mikaela smiled and said “of course, I’ll iron out the details with her right away, I’ll have some more information about it in a couple of hours. Meanwhile you two go upstairs and have lunch with Lucia, she has some food in her office already.”

They saw Mikaela got up and left the room to do her things, when the door closed, they looked at each other and sighed together, apparently Juliana’s not the only one who got enough of the interviews.

~

Just like Mikaela said, Valentina's stepmom wanted to have lunch with them while they were there.

They went up another floor to her office to have lunch there, it was another great office with amazing view.

“Hello girls.” Lucia said as they came in, she took Valentina in a quick hug before giving another one for Juliana. “You must be the amazing and beautiful Juliana I heard so much about, nice to finally meet you.” She said ignoring a protest from Valentina.

Juliana can only chuckle as she was too nervous to think about it too much, “I am, nice to meet you.”

“Come sit, I ordered a lot of food. I know if you are anything like Valentina, we would need it.” Lucia said gesturing to the sitting area in one side of the room with piles of take outs on the coffee table.

They have been eating for a few minutes before Lucia asked “So, Juliana. Valentina told me about how amazing you were in the tournament.”

“Well its nothing, I was lucky to have amazing team and teammates.” Juliana said shyly

“And humble too, please don’t lose that. By the way, do you know which high school you wanted to go to?” Lucia asked as they started eating their food

“No, not yet. but I think I probably just end up going to a public school close to home.” Juliana said

“Education is important and it’s a good idea to choose your school wisely, even Valentina haven’t decided yet.” Lucia said glancing at said girl eating her lunch avoiding eye contact.

“Well, my mom wanted me to go to a good school too. But I don’t really think it’s a good idea with everything right now.” Juliana said slowly between bites

“You know that you can apply for a scholarship, right?” Lucia asks

Juliana looked down on her food before timidly said. “My grade isn’t that special, its averagely boring actually.”

Lucia just smiled and shook her head. “oh honey. I meant athletic scholarship; I know of some good schools nearby that offer it, I can give you the list and their number if you want?”

Juliana could feel her cheeks heats up. “Okay, that would be great, thank you. I’ll tell mom later.”

Lucia smiled “You’re welcome, from what little I saw of your plays I know they would be dying to have you in their school.” She said

Juliana looked at Valentina who’s just nodding with the statement, so she just said “Thank you.”

“I’m serious. Even Leon, Valentina’s dad is a huge fan of you. He watched all of Valentina’s games when he can and saw you and he’s really impressed with your play.” Lucia said a little enthusiastically

Valentina perked up from her lunch when she heard that. “Really? Dad said so?” she asked again

“Yes, he did. But don’t tell him I told you that, he was trying to maintain an image of a perfect fan of his daughter.” Lucia said before chuckling to herself

Valentina beamed at that and asked. “Where is he anyway? I thought he would be here when he told me to enlist the help of Mikaela for the trainer situation.”

“He’s in Chicago, he has a meeting with the USSF, MFF, CSA, and NWSL team owners. Anyway, how were the interviews with the trainers went?” Lucia said nonchalantly before asking.

Juliana doesn’t know much about the behind the scene of the sport, but she recently learnt about the top league for woman’s football in the country. And as usual Valentina knew a lot more about it than she does, and judging by how excited she was hearing the words from Lucia’s lips, it must be a good thing.

Valentina was opening her mouth to say something, probably to asks questions but was cut off by Lucia. “No, young lady. I asked you first, and I want details.” The woman said.

Valentina’s face quickly went from excited to annoyance, but Lucia just looking at her with amusement. “It was long and boring and we decided to go and have a trial with one.” Valentina said in the end

Lucia looked unimpressed with the answer. “I said details, didn’t I?” she said before turning to look at Juliana. “Juliana, would you be a dear and tell me the details? What’s her name and what’s their responsibilities and how does she help you both? stuff like that.” She continued

“Well, her name was Clara and she seems nice enough and looks qualified.” Juliana said with a chuckle, she doesn’t know much about athletic trainers, the only time she ever had one was when they went to camp and the tournament.

“Oh, gosh. There are two of you.” Lucia said exasperatedly, before she took a tablet near her and searching something on it. It took a minute before she turned it around to show it to them, it was the picture of the Trainer from before. After getting the confirmation that it was the right person, she began reading.

“Well, thank God for Mikaela, she knows how to search for the good ones. Anyway, with that many qualifications, what is she going to do to help you girls? I assume she’s going to be full-time exclusive with you girls, right?” Lucia asked after reading through the woman’s resume.

“Yes, Mikaela said she would make sure the details are acceptable with dad’s standard. As for Anna, she does a lot actually, first thing first she would be in charge of keeping us healthy and prevent injury, recoveries and the like. She would be consulting with the youth coach so she can make a workout program that is suitable for us to maintain and improve our athletic situation. She would even help us to eat somewhat healthy and even a helping pair of hand in practice.” Valentina explained.

“How about when you girls travel, or went to camp?” Lucia asked smiling

“Yes, she is coming with us and she will work together with the team’s staffs.” Valentina said before asking. “Are we done? Can we talk about the details about dad’s sponsorship now?”

“Okay, but I don’t know that much about it as the details are still being discussed and under wraps.” Lucia said

“And the sponsorship thing?” Valentina asks

“The big one that’s all over the news?” Lucia asked, and continued when Valentina nodded. “That’s the incentive, you know how’s your dad likes to do his things his way. That’s to make the ball rolling, so to speak.” Lucia explained.

It was then that there was knocking on the door and a man poked his head inside to tell Lucia about her next meeting. Lucia apologized and started to get ready.

“What else do you know about it?” Valentina asked again.

“Valentina, all I know is your dad wanted to improve the league since you said you are serious with football, you can asks him more about it later or just wait a month for your birthday, I have a feeling you will love this one.” Lucia said as she took her tablet and walked to the door. “I’m sorry I have to go early, but you girls enjoy the lunch. And it was nice to finally meet you Juliana, good luck with your school and training.” she finished before walking out

The door clicked shut and Juliana saw Valentina staring at it. “You know, it’s really cool for your dad to sponsor the league.” Juliana said

“It is.” Valentina said still distracted inside her own mind

“Don’t worry about it Val, you will know in a month anyway.” Juliana said

“But… it’s a whole month Juli, there’s no way I can wait that long.” Valentina whines and pouted

“I’m pretty sure you can if you try. For now, how about we finish this food and then we can check the schools from the list out after?” Juliana said trying to distract her friend

“I guess…” Valentina said before she suddenly perked up. “Maybe we can even go to the same school, imagine how awesome that will be.”

“Yeah that would be cool, but that’s probably won’t happen.” Juliana said offhandedly before she took another helping to her mouth.

And for the rest of the afternoon they ended up moving to the office lounge for to do some research into the list of high schools Lucia gave her.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all mistakes are my own

The morning was a little gloomy and chilly, its still February and the weather was still cold. but the air feels really good when it hits Valentina’s face covered with sweats. They are in a small park as their place for practice at the moment, which isn’t really ideal but it will have to do until they find a better replacement around there.

The four of them quickly getting a hang on their practice sessions. The first day they talked and made some goals that they wanted to achieve that year with their training, which more like getting good was a given so the goals were more like going and winning the U17 Women’s World Cup and the U20 Women’s World Cup, starting on every match, scoring and assisting, limiting their misses and mistakes. They even made some goals on the fitness front with Clara guiding their nutrition and making some conditioning and strength workout plans that they do early in the morning together with their run which was cut a bit short to accommodate the time.

Because they were only in National youth team they basically without a team or a club and no league to play in, their practices are more focus on their individual skills and getting better, Brian decided that they needed to build a better fundamental skill so it will be a lot easier for them in the future.

And that was their first two weeks. full of basic fundamental drills around a thousand each, every afternoon and twice on the weekend, it’s just full of first touches, footwork, passes, dribbling, and ball control. It was so repetitive and quite frankly boring that they have to work extra just to concentrate on what they are doing, especially later in the practice that they started to get tired. The first day it took them around 3 hours to finish all of the drills, but by the end of the second week they brought it down to around 2 hours. Because by the end of the last week of their boring drills they improved so much, Valentina knew they should be improving but even the result surprised both of them that they decided to keep doing the drills after regular practice.

Their fitness was slowly getting the attention it needed too, Clara made a bodyweight workout plan for them to do, its nothing too intense because even though they use a lot of their legs, they don’t really have any other experience in other area of their muscles. So, Clara made sure to ease them into it to introduce them and building their foundation. She even started them on some vitamins that their bodies need and starting them slowly on eating healthy, which mostly consist of healthy snacks such as berries, nuts, fruits, and salmon for now. Their goal on this front was to build a good core and be healthy for now, because this does help prevents injuries, and they can use some workouts later to get them faster or something.

~

“Papa?” Valentina called as she came into his house office.

Leon Carvajal was a renowned name in the business world, he is one of the most respected and feared people even for the richest in the world, because only a select few that could consider themselves as equals with him and even fewer that could be consider above him yet those can be counted with one’s hands, the world knows him as one of the richest people. He was born wealthy into the most prominent media and entertainment company in the country that his father built, but from his young age doesn’t really see eye to eye with his father. So, when his chance came, he molds the family company absorbing other companies and turning it into one of the largest holding company in the world with assets well into the trillions. With how much he achieved in his life, he became known as the genius in the field and a really powerful person in the world.

But even the man of his stature he still made time for his family, even with the high standard of expectations people placed in them he still loves them first and foremost and would do everything for them and his youngest especially.

“Yes princess.” Leon answered looking up to the door from his tablet.

Valentina walked gingerly and sat in front of his desk; she was really curious about what his plans for the NWSL are and this was the first time she had the chance to just sit and asks him, he was just too busy lately, they both are.

Before she can open her mouth to ask, he said. “if this is your attempt to pick my brain for your birthday surprise coming up you are wasting our time because I’m not telling.” He smiled

“No, actually, that was only the bonus point that I hoped to get. I guess I really have to wait until after the camp for that.” Valentina said her birthday was next month and she just couldn’t wait for it

“I guess you do. so, what is it?” he asked

“I was wondering, can you tell me about your plans for the NWSL?” she said

“Where do you know about such a thing?” he asked teasingly

“A lot of people know, even some sports news covered it.” she said

“Okay then. do you remember when you said you wanted to play football for a living?” He asked

She looked at him questioningly “When I was like seven?”

“Yes, after I heard that comment. As you know I like to meddle with you and your sibling’s life so I investigate what was it like to be professional female footballer.” He said as a matter of factly.

“And?” she said

“It wasn’t pretty, and at the time, there was no chance I am letting you going through with it. but Lucia told me to wait and see before I go and do something I might regret, so I waited hoping that you will grow out of it soon enough.”

She looked at him confuddled

And he laughed. “yeah who am I kidding, you are a Carvajal there’s no way you give up like that. That was around the previous league just founded, and after years pass and you seem to be more passionate and serious about the sport I started to look into it again, and then when the league folded I started to panicked because that means you had to go to Europe or something. So, when chatter about forming a new one started between the team owners, I wormed my way into it and let my intention known.”

She nodded

“And the rest is history.” He said acting like it was the end of his story

“Seriously?” She said unamused

He laughed again. “well to put it simply, I gave them a chance, a five-year contract as a time limit to change the league for the better before the big fifteen-year contract if they succeeded.” He said

“And what do you want them to change in five year?” Valentina asked

“Nothing much actually, do you know that professional women players barely exist a decade ago? And I use professional loosely here, and nothing really changed from then. So, its just the basic things like wages, expanding the league, and maybe moving the start of the season to fall and follow the schedule from FIFA. Let’s just say in five years if they pull it off, it will be the league that everyone in the world wants to play in.”

Valentina’s excitement just keeps growing as she hears the statement.

He chuckled “I told them in five years they have to expand to 24 teams and around 30 players a team, I mean with me paying most of the players salary it should be easy to line teams that are interested in joining, I even made sure 3 teams from Canada and 2 teams from Mexico have a spot in the league to make it more competitive.

“isn’t that expensive though?

He looked at her with what can only be called a childish smirk “For them.” He said before wiggling his eyebrows

Valentina was unimpressed

“Come on princess, are you worried about your inheritance?”

“Papa!” she exclaimed seemed a little offended.

“Okay, okay. well people may say it is expensive, but nothing to worry over about.” He said reassuringly “You should see how big their eyes get when I told them my proposal for the first time.” He got a faraway look before chuckling at the memories

“Did they take it?”

“Of course, it’s a free ticket for them to sustain the league for at least twenty years to come and a relieve for their headaches from the previous leagues haunting them. And it’s a chance for them to just focusing to improve on other aspects of the game.” He said

“That’s really cool, but why?”

“Because it’s important for you, so of course its important for me too.”

“Thank you, pa.”

“You’re welcome princess. Besides do you know how little they are paid right now? And I know first hand how much dedication and time you put into the sport and there’s no way I’m letting that goes underappreciated.” He said hugging her

Valentina hugged him back but still looked a little troubled by something

Leon saw it and said “What is it? there’s still something bothering you.”

“It’s just seemed surreal and a lot. And aren’t people going to, I don’t know, laugh at you for this?” Valentina asked

“Like I told you before and I will tell you again, who are we trying to impress? I don’t care about what people thinks about what I do for my family and you shouldn’t too. Besides you could think it as an investment if it bothers you so much.” He said, when she looked at him questioningly, he continued. “Trust me in this, if you and your new best friend Juliana keep playing like that and everyone in the league step up their game, which will be quite easy by the way if they can just focus on it without worries, sooner or later the public will clamoring over the games.”

“Really?” She said

“Yes, you knew this. I told you about the thing with the demands and supplies and qualities and nourishments.” He said

V smiled shyly and said while scratching her head “Yeah, I forgot most of the things you said outside of football.”

He shook his head. “Of course you did. Anyway, all you need to know for now is that it’s going to be the best league in the world and you will play in it if you want to.”

Valentina nodded with a smile. “Of course I do.”

Leon smiled mysteriously “Thank God, or I have to wonder on what to do with your birthday present.”

Valentina whipped her head up to look at him fast at those words, her father was notorious for keeping secret and building a lot of hype over it. but before she could ask him about it his phone rings and when he looked at it and looked at her apologetically that’s her que to leave him to work as usual. So she just mouth her thanks and gave him one last hug before leaving.

~

“Come on Juls, it’s not even cold, it’s heated and comfortably warm.” Valentina said from the pool, looking at Juliana who’s still contemplating the pros and cons of swimming

“How deep is it?” Juliana asked even when she could clearly see the water barely got to Valentina’s chest

“Seriously, what’s wrong?” Valentina asked

“Maybe today wasn’t a good idea, we can do this another time.” Juliana said still looking at the water warily

“I told you I will teach you how to swim when we got back, and waiting for after another camp is too long.” Valentina said “Come on just get down here first.”

Juliana gulped and walk to the edge and stopped there, doesn’t make any indication that she would come down

Valentina swam closer and asked “What is it, what’s wrong?” She asked again trying to take Juliana’s hand that she pulled away to her chest

“It’s actually kinda scary.” Juliana said

“How about the ocean? You were fine then.” Valentina said

Juliana thought about it for a moment, “yeah, that’s somehow feels different.”

“Okay then. Let’s start slow, feel the water.” Valentina said to Juliana who slowly took her hands out to feel it. “See, its not that bad.” Juliana just nodded to that. Valentina gave her hand out to Juliana and said. “Come here, one step at a time. I promise I won’t let go.”

Juliana took her hand and slowly getting into the pool, Valentina felt how strong the grip was so she waited until Juliana was a little relax before she led them slowly to the middle of the pool and waited some more for the girl to be a little more comfortable.

It was a couple of minutes of silence before Juliana was relaxed enough and doesn’t look like she will have a panic attack at every ripples of the water, and her grip wasn’t that deadly anymore. Juliana looked at her and gave her a small smile “Now what?”

“Now, I was let’s get you comfortable in the pool and a little braver.” Valentina said

“Okay, what should I do?”

“Try stand on your own first without holding to me, take your time.” Valentina said

Juliana looked a little perplexed but she took a deep breath instead

It was quite funny but Valentina refrain from laughing and instead just nodded. “I’m not going anywhere, I’ll be right here, you can reach out to me anytime.” She reassured

Juliana was hesitant at first, she took a couple of second to summon her courage and determination before she let go and stand still there waiting for something to happen with eyes closed, after some moments passed and she was sure nothing going to happen she opened her eyes slowly to look at Valentina who’s still in front of her and asked “Okay, now what?”

“Now, dip your head into the water.” Valentina said smiling, Juliana looked like she was really against the idea before Valentina continues “I’ll do it with you, we can hold hands and you don’t even need to close your eyes, it will sting a bit but I’m sure you can handle that.”

Juliana nodded, and Valentina positioned herself closer before taking Juliana's hands in hers, she waited until Juliana looked like she’s ready or as close to ready as she could. “Ready? Just do a quick squat and jump okay?” Juliana nodded full of determination. “On three then, one, two.” Then they did it, “see it’s not that bad.”

“Yeah.” Juliana smiled

“Now let’s do it again but slowly, but wait like 5 seconds before we come back up again. And remember to hold your breaths.” Valentina said before they continue to help Juliana learn how to swim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully you like this, sorry if its a bit short, i was lazying around too much on my birthday yesterday.  
oh and if anyone have some teams recommendations for the expansion please do tell. and we just hit 50k and 20 chapters, didnt really believe i would actually write this much when i started, thank you for reading


	21. Chapter 21

“Mom, I gotta go.” Juliana said, she lost count on how many times she said those words in the last twenty minutes.

“Just a little bit more.” Lupita said, she was still hugging Juliana tightly. “It just feels like I haven’t seen you lately and you are so busy with your football.” Her mom just got back from the hospital and still smell like one, but she waited for her to got home before going to the airport because they still need to say goodbyes first.

“It was the same as before.” Juliana said, because it really was the same more or less

“Not that, but the travel thing, my baby’s going to be alone in some strange place cold and hungry.” She said dramatically and tightening the hug.

“We got rooms and they feed us mom. and I’m going to be late if you’re not letting me go anytime soon.” Juliana said exasperatedly, Alerio already texted her five minutes ago telling her he was downstairs waiting for her. “Mom seriously, I’m gonna miss the plane.” She tried

Lupe doesn’t look impressed with that comment, she knew that she’s going with Valentina and their travel situation. “Don’t even start young lady. Besides why you have to go early? The camp doesn’t even start until Monday right?” Lupe asks

“I told you, it has something to do with something in our bodies and travel and rests and something else. I don’t really know actually, but Clara insisted she said it is the best choice for us, and since that was kind of her thing to makes sure we are athletic and healthy and ready it’s makes sense to follow her suggestions, right?” Juliana explained

“It’s so your body can have a little rest and hopefully reset your internal clock for the time difference, and travel can be really tiring, she’s making sure so you girls can have your best performances there.” Lupe explained, since she became a nurse she always read more about health and sometimes Juliana have to keep up with what she was talking about. “I’m boring you again, whatever just give me a kiss and you can go.” Lupe continued

Juliana gave her mom a kiss on the cheek and a goodbye before dragging her luggage with her downstairs. Now that she knew they most likely get some gear there she didn’t have to pack like the first one, she brought two pair of cleats for training and a backup. One of them was her old ones that really seen a lot of better days, and the other one was the new one she got from last camp. She knew that at the rate of her practicing she needs to change cleats quite a lot of time and she had plans of taking a part time job when in high school for them, she’s pretty sure if she asks her mom she would get it for her but somehow she likes the idea of getting it from her own hard works.

Alerio was waiting for her with the back door opened for her so she can just put her luggage there and climb up so they can go.

“Good afternoon Alerio, how are you?” She greeted the now familiar man as she climbs to her seat

“I’m great miss Valdes, are we ready?”

She looked behind to check on her luggage before nodding positively

~

The car ride wasn’t that long, it only took about 20 minutes or so and Alerio took them through the back entrance right to the plane, it was the same one they used from Miami back to New York a couple of weeks ago.

Sometimes Juliana forgot how rich her friend actually was, she doesn’t act like any other rich people she has seen and never flaunt her wealth, if any the girl seems to go out of her way to makes sure Juliana doesn’t feel uncomfortable in that aspect. Well she does show off something she proud off and passionate about, but most of the time it wasn’t about materialistic things. A little bit of her lifestyle always seems to leak through though, like the way she travels and the plethora of people that works for her, but that could be just the way she was used to from she’s little.

Juliana said her thanks to Alerio before dragging her luggage up the stairs into the plane, she heard a helicopter close by and turned around to see one was landing not too far from her, she’s never seen one up close before so she took the sight. The door opened and lo and behold Valentina was grinning from ear to ear waving frantically at her, Juliana gave a small wave back while watching her friend ran up to her and Kat was walking behind her dragging some suitcases, from the looks of things you would never guess they talked on the phone last night or even saw each other that morning.

Juliana opened her hands bracing for the hugs that always come whenever they meet, it was really nice to know that Valentina always greets her with the same enthusiasm and tight hugs. They greeted each other and Juliana gave a smile to Kat before they all walked in to find Clara was waiting for them

“Where have you been?” Juliana asks as they took their seats.

“I went and got some flight time while I can.” Valentina said like that explained anything to Juliana, recognizing her mistakes she continues “You know the thing I told you about wanting to fly? You had to have certain number of flight time before you can get your license, so I’m cramming mine before the busy school exams and world cups.”

“Oh, that’s cool. How many hours left do you need?” Juliana asked, she knew anything to do with flying was one of things her friend love to do below football, it was there together with driving and any other sports.

Valentina pouted. “I should’ve been able to have it, but I need to wait until seventeen until I can have the license even though I already trained for two years and have a lot of hours.” She said a little bitterly

Juliana smiled “Oh poor you, at least you can somewhat legally drive in a couple of weeks though.” She said remembering it was one of the things that made Valentina excited for her birthday.

That does cheer Valentina a little bit, she looked to the other two people in the cabin who’s watching them in silence before saying. “Oh, where are my manner, I’m sorry I didn’t introduce you two. Kat this is Clara our trainer slash conditioning and strength coach slash nutritionist slash a lot of other things that helped us to be better athletes.” Valentina said as she gestured to Clara who got up and gave her hand to the dirty blond. “Clara this is Kat, my newly appointed PA.”

They sat back down as the plane started to taxied to the runway.

“So, what does a PA for thirteen years old girl do, I’m quite unfamiliar with it.” Clara asked and Valentina grumbled she was basically fourteen, it was clear how she doesn’t really keen on the idea of a guardian.

Kat smiled “I’m her guardian actually, I was hired to look after her.”

Clara smirk, she looked at Valentina. “Basically, she’s your sitter.” She said and laughed.

Valentina groaned and buried her face in her hands. “I gave you an out and you went right pass it.” she said to

Kat who just shrugged her shoulder said “It is the truth. Your dad left me a long list of specific instructions and even gave me training for those and more just to be ready for the job.”

Clara whistled “How high maintenance are you?”

“I’m not!” Valentina said before turning to Juliana who was ignoring the conversation and instead full on consertation on her phone. “Back me up here Juli.”

Juliana who suddenly heard her name called looked up and saw the pleading look on her friend face and Clara who was still laughing. “Yeah she is.” She said not really following the conversations, “I mean she's not.” She corrected quickly after the look her friend gave her.

“You girls are the worst, why do I keep up with you.” Valentina said dramatically

“Cause I’m the one who will whip your ass to be the best athlete the world has ever seen.” Clara said confidently nodding her head.

“You like me too much to get rid of me.” Juliana said teasingly

“Your dad paid me to do so?” Kat jokingly said and everyone laughed.

It was a smooth and fast plane ride after that. Well not really faster but it feels like it. They spent the time playing monopoly, much to everyone's surprise Valentina stealthily became super rich and leave everyone in bankruptcy with a devilishly smirk on her face, her comment was 'what, you thought I didn’t learn a thing or two about money from dad?'

An SUV was waiting for them when they landed, it was already dark and they went straight to Valentina’s family house. The road was twisted and climbing but not that long, Juliana doesn’t really know where they are and she can’t really see any houses, she saw glimpses of them behind the tall bushes or gates but there is no other indication of what kind of houses lies behind.

After around 30 minutes from the Santa Monica airport they arrived at the end of the road quite high up the Beverly Hills area, Juliana just learnt what it was called a few minutes ago. She saw three houses around and from the three they went into the fourth inconspicuous wooden gate with tall bushes on either side of it acting as a divider from the nearby houses.

The driveway wasn’t that long, its just a small one leading them behind the two houses beside and opened up into a decent sized car area with a little tree tucked in the corner and a garage to the right side. The house was a modern and a lot of wood panel accent from what she can see, because right now all she saw was the view through the house. She can see the living area and the kitchen from the front of the house and even beyond that to the pool and the drop-dead gorgeous view of the lights from the city and downtown.

The house was very opened yet private at the same time, there was barely any walls in the middle part of the house and for good reason too, with view like that who needs walls right. But it does have walls on either side of the house, or the wings of the house as Valentina called it. exploring that house was one of the best thing Juliana has done in her long thirteen years of life. The little steps down into the living area and kitchen, apparently, it’s the trick to preserve that amazing view from the front of the house. The long infinity pool with jacuzzi on the side and those really shallow part of the pool with a really comfortable looking lounge on top. Another outside area down a level from the pool with grass and a small goal. A balcony on top of the middle part of house connecting a bedroom and the other wing of the house. And a million other little things or ridiculous thing Juliana never thought a house need. Basically, it’s a three-floor house but one floor up and a floor down instead of two floors up and has everything she could possibly imagine, it even has a theater for Christ sake.

“Wow, is this your room?” Juliana asks Valentina when they walked into the single room on the upper left side of the house in the middle of the tour.

“Yes, I fell in love with it and claimed it as mine right away. It was supposed to be dad’s as it is the master bedroom but with some persuasive words and a lot of begging I am now the proud owner of this room.” Valentina told her the story as she explored the room.

The room wasn’t massive, but it was big enough. On the left side of the room behind a massive floor to ceiling windows that function as a door lies a balcony with a weird looking swinging sofa dangling from the ceiling overlooking downtown LA. Not all of the wall was glass though, there was a corner covered from the outside beside another massive window by the door that has a desk, a unique looking bookcase and a wall full of little things and photos of Valentina and her family. And the last thing in the room was Valentina’s typical window seat, she has one too in her room in New York.

“Wow, this room just amazing.” Juliana said

Valentina grinned “There’s more.” She said before dragging Juliana to a massive bathroom with complicated looking shower and a tub looking over another balcony, why someone need a balcony in their bathroom she wouldn’t understand. And the most amazing part was the closets, and she actually said that right as in multiple massive closets, she looked questioningly at her friend asking why she would need two massive one and Valentina just shrugged and said. “I told you it’s supposed to be my dad’s room and he and Lucia needed two separate closets, but since it was mine now, I used one for my cleats and shoes.” She opened the other one, and just like she said there are a lot of cleats and shoes in there, and she meant a lot.

“Why do you still keeping these? most of them not even fit you anymore I bet.” Juliana said when she looked at the old cleats and sport shoes, and like she said most of them looked too small to fit the owner anymore, but to be fair most of them was well worn, especially the cleats, some even looked like they could fall apart if touched.

“I haven’t gotten around to went through it yet, I was going to donate them but they are so bad that I don’t think it will last very long if I donate them. And this is kind of like the graveyard of my shoes, because I usually buy a new pair and leave the old ones here.” Valentina explained

“Yeah you can’t really donate those, I think. Maybe just recycle them or something.” Juliana said

“That’s a good idea, maybe Kat can sort that out when we are in camp, I’ll tell her tomorrow.” Valentina said as they get back to the bedroom, and Juliana instinctually went to admire the view again from the balcony. “You can just sleep here with me if you want.” Juliana turned around and looked at her friend. “it’s the best view in the house.” She added

“I don’t know, I don’t want to impose.” Juliana said

“What kind of nonsense is that? Come on, it will be fun.” Valentina said “Besides, there’s no guarantee we are going to room together later in the camp.” She added

Juliana thought at it for a bit, but the views was really amazing and she is a sucker for amazing views. So, she nodded positively much to the squeal of excitement from Valentina.

Juliana doesn’t remember moving from the swinging sofa to the bed last night, but when she woke up, she found herself in the bed, and just like every other time they sleep in the same bed together, she found herself being snuggled from behind by Valentina it was, comfortable, like really, really comfortable.

But she had to get up, she really needed to pee. And while in the bathroom she decided to just brush her teeth and wash her face, to get ready for the day.

The swinging sofa turned out to be the best thing ever, they lies there watching the lights of the city and just talking nonsense like they usually do, Juliana didn’t know how long they stayed out there on the balcony cuddling each other because of the cold air even with the thick blanket over them swinging gently, they probably should get inside long ago but the moment was just perfect that Juliana doesn’t want to disturb it, and Valentina seems to enjoy herself too, like who can just turned a comment about the length of the grass into a well thought out deep conversations about grass for fifty minutes straight.

Juliana decided to let Valentina sleep a little longer and went downstairs to find some breakfast, it took her a second to remember the way but she found it without a problem. There were noises from the kitchen and Juliana found Kat and Clara was already there, Kat was busy behind the counter preparing breakfast and Clara was talking to her from the other side of the counter.

“Morning.” Juliana said as she took a seat right beside Clara.

“Good morning, fruit and nut waffles sandwiches?” Kat asked turning around to look at her to which she nodded “Okay then just wait for a little bit, the batter is almost done.”

“Morning, how was your sleep?” Clara asked giving her a glass of water, she told them to always start their day with a glass of water.

Juliana drank it in one gulp. “It was good.” She was eyeing the box of milk besides Clara, ever since the woman made them drink a glass of milk after their morning workouts she fell in love with the stuff, maybe later though.

“Not tired at all? I heard you girls were still up quite late last night.” Clara asked again

“How’d you know?” Juliana asked back, she was sure they weren’t that noisy last night.

Clara smiled. “Oh darling, you know the balcony is not soundproof right?”

Yeah, Juliana didn’t think of that. She thought everyone was sleeping already last night, not besides the pool lounging. She just smiled awkwardly at Clara

“It’s okay you know, its good in fact. The faster you get used to the time zone the better, even if its only two to three hours difference.” Clara explained before asking. “Where is Valentina?”

“She’s still sle-“ Juliana was saying before she heard a mumble from behind

“’M here.” Valentina looked half awake with a blanket around her which she dragged to seat besides Juliana, Clara gave her a glass of water which she sipped before Clara stared her down until she drank it all.

Juliana just chuckled at her friend antics and she’s not a fan of the milk too, but she knew it was good for her and she always drinks them even with a lot of protests every time but by now those protests are probably just for the sake of protesting to Clara.

“What’s for breakfast?” Valentina asked, seems like the glass of water did a good job for waking her up.

“Fruit and nuts waffles sandwiches.” Kat said not turning from her post.

It was around 10 minutes later until breakfast was served and they dug in together. It was a big breakfast for four people, yet all of it was consumed quite fast and without protests.

“That was really delicious and actually quite healthy.” Clara said to Kat and Juliana nodded her agreement.

“Thank you, glad you all liked it.” Kat said

“How did you learn to cook?” Juliana asked her, because that was really up there in the most delicious food she’d ever eaten, granted its not a long list for now but it was still really good.

“Well, it was part of the training I had to pass for the job.” She explained

“What else can you do? you mention you look after Valentina but what kind of training one’s had to went through to be a nanny for the princess.” Clara said ignoring the groaned of Valentina who decided to leave the room to do her morning rituals.

Kat chuckled. “Now that I think about it, it was quite a lot actually. But I won’t spoil the suspense for you both, so just wait and see yeah?”

Now its Clara turned to groan, “Such a tease. Well, whatever. Juliana go and tell Valentina to get ready, we are starting in an hour down in the gym. I need to make some calls so I can join in on the youth team’s staff for the camp, doesn’t really know how that will go but this mysterious Kat over here told me it will go smoothly.” She said side glancing Kat who’s just smiling mysteriously

“Okay.” Juliana was excited for the gym, because of the body workouts so far only been good for her performance she couldn’t wait to see what a workout with proper equipment will do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know the ending was quite awkward, but this is the only place i can end it at. so sorry that you have to wait a week for the rest of the day, but i want to write it right and not rushed  
researching for this chapter was really fun and quite depressing altogether, watching all of those youtube videos of those great houses in LA was something else.  
i cant wait for the next chapter, i have something that i think quite cute planned for it.


	22. Chapter 22

Valentina was breathing heavily; her body was covered in sweats and her muscles were burning. She just finished her last sets and lying on the floor catching her breath. They didn’t use a lot of weights but they still have quite a few sets and long reps for consistency and stamina.

She tried her best but after training together with Juliana for a few weeks now, she began to understand what fits actually looked like. Her friend was doing almost twice as much weight and sets than she did yet she looked like she just got back from a light jog, she could hear Clara was giving Juliana some encouragement in her last set.

“All right girls, good work. Go cool down then some delicious snacks and chocolate milks awaits you upstairs courtesy of Kat.” Clara said clapping her hands to get them to do their cooling down right away, those snacks and even milk sounds really enticing for Valentina right now.

As they are stretching the memorized routine of cooling down Clara said. “By the way, I am checking in with the team staffs this afternoon so just rest for today yeah?”

That would mean that. “What about our daily boring practice?” Juliana beat her to the question

“You can skip those.” Clara said but even before she can finish that sentence, they all knew that both of them not going to do that so she continues. “Okay, but just do half please. Even if it looked like a really light training for you I still don’t want to risk anything when I’m not near, I heard too many horror stories as is.”

“Okay then.” They said in unison quite dejectedly. They knew that Clara takes her job really seriously and meant well for them, but it still doesn’t make it less sucks not to be able to practice and Valentina knows she’s not the only one thinking like that.

“Okay?” Clara asked a little surprised, she must have expected them to have a little bit of protests for the decision. “You girls can relax or watch a movie.” She tried to cheer them up. “Heck, go outside or something. You girls are in LA for god sake, stop thinking about football for once and enjoy life a little bit.”

Valentina catch a side glance to Juliana who still looked really down, she herself doesn’t really mind a day off if that means better in the long run, but she won’t let Clara knows that. So, she pouted and tried her best to summon the gloomy aura around her, she doesn’t know how to do that or if it works but Clara just throws her hands up in the air and walked out of the gym muttering under her breath. It took a moment before both of them burst out laughing, it was really fun when you have a partner in crime.

~

Valentina was perched on the integrated window seat in her room, it was similar to the one in her room in NYC. These kind of window seats are one of the best things ever and she loves them quite a lot, there’s just something terribly compelling about being able to be in that space between inside the house and yet still feels like outside, its just one of the little things she loves in her life.

She was reading a book about some random facts or maybe theory about some other weird phenomenon, this one is about déjà vu. She knew Juliana was in the room with her, she heard a small rubber ball bouncing every few seconds or so for quite a while now and already registered the sound as a white noise.

“I’m bored…” Juliana suddenly groans.

Valentina was a little startled by the sudden noise and looked up to the girl. Juliana was laying on her stomach on the bed with her hands dangling on the edge, the girl was looking at her pleadingly. Valentina saw the small rubber ball was rolling under her table from the corner of her eyes, and she sighed and closed her book.

“What do you want to do?” Valentina said as she checked the time, it was almost noon already and its time for them to start thinking about lunch. Kat went to drop Clara off to the training center an hour ago and considering LA traffic and how far they are from the place it probably takes a while for her to come back.

“I don’t know. Something.” Juliana said again

“Okay then, hungry?” Valentina asks, that’s like the go to activity for them that will always cheer them up, and she was starting to get hungry herself after almost two hours of reading, maybe the workout before that was the main reason but whatever, still almost time for lunch.

Juliana face lit up and nodded twice fast, it was really cute and adorable and… Valentina cut her train of thought off, where did that came from. Whatever, “Lets see if we have something to make lunch.” Valentina said and they both stand up and went to the kitchen to check the fridges.

There was nothing, or maybe not nothing there’s a lot of bottled water and power drinks for them that Clara brought with them but there wasn’t much food for them to make lunch with. Valentina looked to Juliana who looked disappointed at the sight before them and chuckles. “Come on, we can just eat out.” Valentina said.

“But Kat’s not here right now, and she took the car, didn’t she?” Juliana asked

“That’s not the only car here. I think.” Valentina said, she wasn’t sure but she thinks Guille and Eva put one of their cars here.

“You think? Can you even drive?” Juliana asked, looking at her skeptically

Valentina acted offended with sharp intake of breath and hands on her chest to complete the act. “How dare you, you just saw me fly a chopper yesterday and you asked me if I can drive?” Juliana wanted to say something but she continued. “Of course, I can’t.” she finished proudly before laughing at the looks on Juliana’s face. “I’m kidding, you should look at your face though. I got you.” She’s still laughing as she leads them to the garage.

“Of course you are.” Juliana said, like she was done with her antics but the little smile she was holding gave her away.

“Eva taught me, she even got me a permit to drive. Wasn’t sure how she managed that, but she did made me promise not to tell dad about it.” Valentina explained

“That’s cool.” Juliana said as they stepped inside the three cars garage and Valentina turned the lights on, and just like she predicted, they found another car in there.

“Ooh, a sedan. Never saw you in a small car before.” Juliana said teasingly, which was true she never drove when Juliana’s around and all of the drivers uses SUV for convenient purposes.

Valentina scoffed at the comment and just walked to the car. Their dad wasn’t a big car guy but he doesn’t overlook the opportunity it has for his company, she thinks he has some cars manufacturers in the company subsidiaries book, she used to read it for fun when she was little whenever she was in his office. But the same couldn’t be said for his children, two out of the three of them were somewhat of a car enthusiast, one more so than the other. Guille was the first one, he likes some sportscar and have quite a few of them himself. Eva on the other hand was the biggest one on the family, she doesn’t look like it but she does have a lot of exotic sports cars scattered around their properties and may or may not bought a massive garage just to store them, she even went to the track for fun quite regularly, and indulge in betting some of her so-called lesser cars away. And Valentina wasn’t as big of a fan of cars like them as she was more enthusiastic in the aviation side of things, but she does appreciate and enjoys the cars too sometimes. Like the first time she learnt driving was on a track with Eva in her Ferrari when she was like eleven, that was a fun weekend. Yeah, Eva was a badass when she wants to be.

“What?” Juliana asked, not expecting the reaction.

Valentina turned to looked at Juliana and gave her a smirk. “You are just too adorable.” Valentina said and turned back to the car, her sister’s initials was written on top of the car’s brand on the cover, She reached down and pulled it open then stepped back to admire the view.

Like she mentioned, Valentina wasn’t that big of a fan of cars, but looking at the one in front of her made her a little excited at the prospect of driving it, she really needs to give more credits for her sister taste in cars. It was a McLaren P1, yellow with some black accents and lines. The car does look really cool and kinda sexy too, and since this was their only option right now it seems like subtle wasn’t in their dictionary right now.

Even Juliana stopped and stared for a moment “That is one mean looking car.” She said eventually

“I know.” Valentina breathed out, she took another deep breath before walking to the workbench in the corner to search for the key, where they keep their keys.

“Is this your car?” She heard Juliana asked.

“No, it’s Eva's.” Valentina answered when she found the key

“Is it okay to use it, isn’t she’s going to get mad?” Juliana asked, sounded unsure

“Probably. But as long as we don’t wreck it, we should be fine.” Valentina said and unlocked the door then walked to the passenger side where Juliana was standing trying to open the door for her friend.

“I know how to open a door.” Juliana said offhandedly

Valentina can’t help the little smile she gets when hears the words “Are you sure? Okay then whatever you want.” She said stepping aside to get out of Juliana’s way. The girl approached the door and just stand there trying to figure out how it works, a moment passed by until Juliana turned around to look at her with a sheepish smile and a hand scratching her head. Valentina just laughed at her friend’s antics and teach her how to opened the door.

~

After they’ve eaten in a small café down the hill near rodeo drive, the food was delicious and the place was nice with good services too, so it was a pleasant experience besides the stares. They picked up some stares from a couple of curious people since they stepped out of the car, even with some whispers. Valentina noticed that Juliana was getting uncomfortable with the attention so they left quite early than they used to, usually they stayed quite a bit after lunch together but she didn’t want to make her friend uncomfortable.

So, they decided to just drive around aimlessly. Valentina took them downtown and turned around to the hills just sight seeing from inside the car, she even driven down the famous Mulholland drive to Sunset Boulevard to Santa Monica and ended up in Venice beach. They were just enjoying the scenery and occasionally getting out in some of the lookout places to take some pictures together, it was two hours full of laugher and talks about nothing at all.

Then they decided to explore Venice Beach with ice creams in hand and window shopping, and the occasional gallery where they just went through it just to look at it, it was fun and something different than what they usually do together which was just practice, talking, and eating. Valentina learnt a lot more about her friend, like if food was her weakness then ice cream was her kryptonite especially the good ones, Valentina have to avert her gaze and tried to reel in her mind when Juliana tasted the ice cream for the first time and moaned. That was weird and different, she had crushes before, not many probably one or two with how busy she was and those just went away quickly. She hoped this wasn’t it or even if it is, she prayed that it just went away like the others. Juliana was her friend first and foremost then her teammates, she doesn’t want to lose that to awkwardness or worse.

And after a couple hours of walking they found themselves sitting on the beach quite far away from the nearest people waiting for the sun to set and Kat who catch up to them a couple hours earlier and just following them behind, she was getting some dinner for them. What a dinner it was, picnic on the beach just the two of them as the sun set, the conversations just flow effortlessly like usual and they just enjoying each other’s company. When the sun disappeared and the chilly air started blowing, they cuddled there with Valentina in Juliana’s arms and it was so electric and magnetic and from that point on, Valentina was sold.

The talk Valentina had with herself seems useless now, she knew she was slipping and started falling. She doesn’t know how deep it will go and there are still doubts and fear of what it could do to their friendship. But all she can do right now was to just fall in silence and hope Juliana catch her later. For now, though she’s determined to enjoy the moment and just put herself deeper in Juliana’s arms, she closed her eyes and smiled when she felt the arms holding her tighter.

It was such a perfect day.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all mistakes are my own

Juliana was laying on the poolside lounge in the hotel trying to destress her mind, it’s the third day of the camp and two more to go. But at this rate she just wanted it to be over. She felt someone came and sat beside her but she just too exhausted to open her eyes to check who was it. She heard the sigh and knew right away who was it before they even speak, it was Valentina, she knew that sigh anywhere.

“I want to go home.” Valentina said.

“Me too.” Juliana said back, usually she would try and motivates her friend to keep going or something but right now she decided to just be miserable together.

“Its been a long couple of days.” Valentina said

“It is, and honestly not the good kind either.” Juliana said and they sighed together.

Juliana thought back at the last couple of days that made her and even Valentina (by the exhausted look on her friend’s face) this tired.

It started from the first meeting when they the camp starts. Where after introducing himself, coach said something about how bad their performance was in CONCACAF last year and they barely qualified for the World Cup. They needed to change something if they want to win the world cup, he said he’s going to do whatever it takes to make them ready, saying he was prepared to change tactics, fundamentals, or even players, and he’s not going to be thinking twice if he saw a better alternative than what he already had.

That was a little harsh and unapologetically in your face that Juliana didn’t think too much at first, she thought it was fair and all that the ones who works hard for it gets the parts, and since it is the world cup and only world’s best of the best going to be there of course they need to be at the very least ready. But apparently, it’s not actually good for the two of them, because all of the other member of the camp was the girls that did their best to qualified last year and most of them wasn’t really keen on some basically nobody couple of girls to came in and just take their spots. So, to say that they have something to prove was an understatement.

Juliana knew that she had to prove herself again when she learnt that no one from the U20 roster will going to be in the camp besides Mal, and she accepted that and prepared to give her best. But what she doesn’t anticipated was the competitiveness nature of the girls in the camp, or close minded some of them are and the cold shoulders she got occasionally in the halls or even when they refused to play with her altogether in skirmishes. It was hard to convinced people about something when they refused to acknowledge your existence in the first place.

It was really annoying and she’s not happy to admit it but she did curse her teammates in her head that day, thankfully coach talked really hard to them about that indirectly and really made a point that even if they cannot stand each other at the very least they need to play together on the field. After the talk they did include her or at the very least acknowledge her existence in the pitch, even with the bad balls they sometimes gave her which she wasn’t entirely sure were accidents, she still could somehow manage to make the best with it so she’s not complaining.

Outside of the pitch, Juliana wasn’t really bothered that her roommate doesn’t talk to her or that only Valentina and Mal comes to sit with her on meals or that they only occasionally gave her the smallest head nods for greetings if she was lucky, it’s just tiresome after some days has passed and it doesn’t seem to be an improvement on the situation.

Juliana felt Valentina moved herself closer and snuggled her from her side, she opened her arms and snuggled back, trying to get as much comfort she could get in these challenging times.

Even though her situation was bad, she’s sure that Valentina got it a lot worse than her. Considering the girl’s position that she plays and how bad communication and chemistry was needed with it, Juliana remembered watching Valentina on her first skirmish she participated and how bad it was for her whole team, it’s just looked like something trying to work without the integral piece that makes it works and the whole thing fall apart, and it does fell fast and spectacularly. In short, the other team exploited their weaknesses and destroyed them, when after half an hour and there wasn’t seem to be a change from the team coach decided to stop the game and have an earful with them. The look that plastered on Valentina after that and for the rest of the day was really scary and Juliana hoped to never seen it again.

“Do you think we will make the roster?” Juliana cannot help but asked, looking back at how disastrous their camp so far, she’s really unconvinced about the situation

“Of course we will, there’s just no way coach will pass us up if he saw our performance last month with a higher age group and skill cap than the ones right now.” Valentina said still not moving from her place. “But for winning the whole thing altogether depends on these people actually, its either they work with us or we just fail.”

“You mean our teammates?” Juliana asked, it’s a bit hard to use that word but its still true and she needed to accept it.

“Yeah no, I’m not going to give them the privilege yet.” Valentina grumbled. “too bad we are not good enough to win the whole tournament just with the two of us.”

“Val it’s a team game, that’s going to be impossible.” Juliana said, and it is true, no matter how fast you run the thing that will always be the fastest on the field is the ball.

“Well we can try, and I’m sure when Brian teach us some coordination and teamplay as two we can beat some team out there with basically just the two of us.” Valentina said, and that’s another thing that made her wants to go home, Brian promised them that they will beginning to train as duo or in his words as one and even though he said its an experimental kind of thing, he seems to always giddy talking about it, and they too cant wait to try it.

“Whatever you say milady.” Juliana said trying to lighten the mood, she just doesn’t want to think about the disastrous camp for now. “We just need to push through for a couple more days then these whole things will be over.”

~

And pushed through they did.

The last couple of days of camp was a lot more intense than before, with the girls trying to prove themselves and pushed their limits just to secure their spots. But there was a good thing came out of it, since they really wanted to prove themselves they decided to put their pettiness to Juliana and Valentina aside for now and at the very least tolerate their existence and gave them the ball if they think it was the best plays at the time.

But that still doesn’t mean that they were accepted, they worked twice as hard and it shows. With the opportunities presents itself and in skirmishes they got a lot more time with the balls than before, the skill gap started showing and it doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. Coach was ecstatic.

It was really an exhausting week for them, they even slept through the flight home and doesn’t even talked much at all. the mental exhaustions was just too much for them, since it was probably the first time they experienced something like that. But there is one good thing coming out of the camp though, they got the spots and will be going to Costa Rica next month for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. Thinking about that made her giddy all the time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the short chapter, and it does a bit like a filler. and im a little confused on who to make as the 'bad girl in camp' because i felt like i already introduced too many original character in short span of time and no one will going to remember them all (i know i wont, if wasnt for the notes) so they were nameless for now, if you have any suggestions for them please feel free to let me know, we still have some chapters before the world cup so yeah.   
thanks for reading, hope you like it


	24. Chapter 24

Valentina just got back to her room and immediately going for the bathroom to relax and clean herself, she took her time in the shower and thought about her day so far. Somehow it was just like usual but a little weirder, like when her family seems like avoiding her or just hiding something from her. She knew what it was, they do it every year but she just played along and act surprised. It has something to do with her birthday tomorrow, and usually they threw a surprised party for her.

Aside from that she was tired, it has been a long day and there are a lot of things to do all day. As usual she and Juliana had workout in the morning with Clara and Brian join them for practice after school in the afternoon until around seven in the evening, the world cup was coming closer and after knowing how bad the camp went for them, Brian has been trying his best to make them ready or more ready for every single situation he could think of. Mostly their teamwork together as two, preparing for the worst-case scenario where they have to play like their team’s doesn’t exist. Hopefully it doesn’t result to that.

And speaking about world cup, she had to go to the principal office and told him about the situation, that she won’t be able to go to school next month for around two weeks. that didn’t go well, somehow, he just thought that she was trying to make up an excuse so she could just skip school and all. Even threatening to call her dad and let him know about her ‘little scheme’, yeah let’s just say the phone call went badly for him and she got her permission to go next month.

After her shower she went back to her room to lie on her bed trying to get some sleep. But she found her finger just hovering above the call button to Juliana, it’s like whenever she had a little free time all she wanted to do was spend it with the girl. Or whenever something amusing happened Juliana was the first person she thought about and immediately cannot wait to tell her, they really did become a really close friend in no time at all and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

‘Hello?’ Juliana said from the phone, without realizing it she already pressed the call button.

“Hi, sorry I wasn’t thinking. Hopefully you’re not busy.” Valentina said quickly, and looking at the clock it was quite late already

‘no no, its okay. I just finished doing some homework.’ She sighed

Valentina smiled a little bit; she could picture the girl’s expression really well right now considering her friend’s hatred of homework. “okay, how was your talk with your principal went by the way?” she asked, they didn’t have time to chat in practice and by the end they are just too tired to talk so she asked now.

‘It went well actually, really well. He congratulates me and everything, but he did say that I have to expect a little more extra homework from the teachers so Im not left behind. hence the homework I just did, I wanted to finish all of it before going if possible, so I don’t really have to think about it anymore’ Juliana said with her voice losing the excitement by the end of the sentence. ‘how about yours?’

And that’s the que for her telling her best friend about her day at school and bitching about her principal, they talked quite a lot that night and somehow Juliana wasn’t falling asleep. Usually when they talked on the phone like this, the girl would fell asleep mid call. But tonight, was a little different, and she didn’t think much of it. And her mood was becoming better and better the longer the call went, they talked about a lot of things even some random things. as the night went on the talked changed into hushed whispers and Valentina starting to feel the sleepiness getting to her.

‘Val?’ Juliana soft voice called her name, she could just fall asleep to that voice, heck she was in the process to.

“Hmm?” Valentina said

‘Happy birthday.’ Juliana whispered, Valentina could hear the small smile that accompanied the words in her mind.

Hearing that Valentina looked at the clock in her room and indeed, it was midnight and she couldn’t help but smile widely. Juliana just stayed up on the phone with her just to wish her a happy birthday, she felt like the luckiest person on earth right then. “Thank you.” She said back

‘You’re welcome, we can go to sleep now. I’m really tired sorry couldn’t talk to you a bit more, but I will see you later today?’ Juliana said

“Yeah, I’ll see you later. Goodnight, sweet dream.” Valentina said, and after she heard Juliana’s goodnight, she hangs up the call. She was looking at the ceiling smiling to her eyes when she heard the door to her room opened softly, and quickly closed her eyes, it wouldn’t do well if the person coming know that she hasn’t slept yet.

And just as Valentina suspected, the gentle voice that sang happy birthday was her dad’s, she opened her eyes and smile at the man that no matter how busy he was always make times for her and her siblings just for this tradition. She saw the small cake with the equally small candles on top and the smile her dad has on his face while singing her happy birthday. She sat up and listen to her dad finish the song.

“Okay, don’t waste it.” Leon Carvajal said.

It’s always the same, every year those are the words that he always said right after he sings the song. When Valentina was little, she always knew what she wished for. Either it’s a toy, or a place she wanted to visit or even the one ridiculous wish she thought he would never give. No matter what it was, he always found a way to make it true.

But after she was a little bit older, she began to understands why Eva and Guille never wishes for things like she always does. She remembers she asks that question to Eva on her sister 20th birthday, but Eva just smiled mysteriously at her and told her she was still small enough to understand and go enjoy her new toy, she sulked a lot that day. But now she thinks she understands, for as long as she can remember everything she wished for and every whim she had, so long that money can buy it she would get them. She closed her eyes and thinks about what she wanted now, and the things that crossed her mind was winning the upcoming world cups together with her new best friend Juliana, she wanted to keep playing football and hanging out with her, she even wanted them to go to the same school so they have even more time together. Then she realizes that was a totally different train of thoughts than she had the previous year, making up her mind and focusing on one wish that she hoped to covered all of the wishes, she blew on the candles.

“What did you wish for?” her dad asks

Valentina smiled “It’s a secret.”

He just looked at her amusedly, that was the first time ever she didn’t tell him what she had wished for and somehow, she got a feeling that he was proud of her for something that she couldn’t think of.

“Okay, do you want to eat the cake? Or you want to wait until the morning together with the present?” He asks teasingly, that wasn’t the usual drill. she was supposed to get at the very least a hint of her present together with the cake, and it must’ve shown on her face that he laughed “I’m kidding, here.” He handed her a spoon

She started to dig into the small cake fully intending to finish it, or maybe just half and let Juliana taste it later when they meet. While her dad just watching her shaking his head at her antic, she swallowed “What?”

He chuckled “Are you aware that Eva and Lucia were really jealous of you?” he asks but seeing her confused face he clarifies “About your eating habits and not gaining weight by it at all. Eva even went as far as only accepting a single cupcake in her birthday tradition now.”

Valentina chuckles, she was aware of it. Even the girls in her class that saw how much she eats were jealous but what can she say, with how much calories she burns every single day she needed the replacement too, and the random bouts of hungriness she felt throughout the day wasn’t helping too. “I’ll run it off later.” She smirked, and they both just laughed.

“Oh yeah, before I forget. Your gift.” He said and handing her a small notebook and a pen.

Valentina was confused, no matter how she looks at it. its still your day to day small notebook that you can grip in your hand. Was he trying to tell her something? Maybe this is his subtle way to tell her that her grade has been slipping, but that cannot be she still has quite amazing grade if she does say so herself. When she cannot figure out what the notebook mean she just look at her dad again asking for an explanation for the gift or something, and she can only see that he was grinning like the cat who got the canary. “What is it?”

“it’s a notebook.” He said still grinning, and after giving him an unamused face for the really helpful answer he continues. “So, you know about the sponsorship that I gave for the league, right?” he asked, and wait for her confirmation before continuing. “They are so grateful with it that they even gave me a right to make my own team and include it in the league, of course after a year review and if it does prove to be competitive enough.” He said excitedly.

Valentina rarely saw him excited, well that’s a lie, she always saw him excited whenever there is a possibility of him getting a new hobby and the toys that comes with it. but that still doesn’t explain the notepad. “That’s great and all, but the notepad?”

He wasn’t deterred and still grinning and then he says. “This is for you to write about everything you need to make the team a team you want to play in. Because I’m giving it to you.”

Valentina’s eyes were really wide by the surprised as her mind races through the implications of that statement, but her dad wasn’t finish talking yet. “So, things like which players do you want to play together with. Or what things do you girls need. What facilities. Coaches, Manager. I know how hard it has been for you these last years with the clubs, and then I looked at you when you found Juliana. So if you can find a team with the players that you can be friends with and play together with like that I’m sure you will enjoy the game a lot more.” He finished

She just couldn’t believe it, so she lunged towards him and gave him a big hug and a lot of thank yous, it was going to be amazing and probably a lot of work but lets just face that when it comes, for now she just couldn’t wait to tell a certain person about it and hopefully make her the first teammate.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all mistakes are mine, sorry if its a little short. this week all of my little spare time was consumed in the rise and fall of my civilization and the notion in my head of 'one more turn and im done'. but in the end i did managed to woke up early today and just write so that i dont break the chain and habit of posting each week.

Juliana was tired, this is the nth stores they went to and it seems like her friend still couldn’t find the piece of clothing she determined to find. It was approaching night time and since it was Valentina birthday, she dragged her around the city shopping, well not really because the girl still hasn’t got anything yet. They finished their practice for the day earlier than usual because of the occasion and its been three hours since, don’t get her wrong she really doesn’t mind the company, but it seems like shopping is not something she would get used to anytime soon.

She saw Valentina came from around the corner with the attendant with a pout in her mouth and shakes her head, so yeah that’s probably the tenth one so far.

“So, can you just tell me what are you looking for?” Juliana said as they got out of another fancy store and started walking

Valentina looked sheepishly and said “Nothing.” And Juliana just look at her incredulously.

“What?” Juliana asks a little perplexed, that was a little annoying but the girl is on her birthday so yeah, she got all of the passes in the world for today.

“Don’t be mad, here. We can just go to that place and drink some smoothie.” Valentina said still chuckling to herself and took Juliana’s hand dragging her to a nearby café.

Juliana already felt a little better at the prospect of snacks, and it is the girl’s birthday she can be as demanding as she wants, but she still has to grumble a little for the show.

Valentina ordered them some milkshakes and fries while Juliana search for a booth for them to seat, not even some minutes later the birthday girl sat in front of her.

Juliana didn’t saw it coming, she was on her phone trying to squeeze in a single stage on the casual phone game she got hooked on not so long ago. She looked up to see Valentina was clutching her stomach laughing, and she looked at the offending thing laying on the table between them. The girl blew off the small part of the straw cover to her face, it was the thing you used to do when you were little but it’s still not supposed to be that funny.

“Laugh it off birthday girl, and we’ll see if I still give you your present.” Juliana threaten jokingly

It took a moment, but Valentina took control of her laughter “Okay, okay. I’m sorry, but you have to see your face, I just can’t help it.” she said, still having a hard time to control her breathing, but she grinned and added “But, I don’t know what present you have prepared for me. The time I got to spend with you was already making this the best birthday ever.”

There she goes, spouting some cheesy lines again. For some reason or another, lately she seems to love to use some pickup lines or cheesy sentences. And for some unknown reason entirely Juliana loves it, but she won’t let it shows on her face. So with hard concentration of self-control to not blush she just shakes her head and concentrate on the drink in front of her.

Valentina’s phone rings and she answered them, while Juliana sipped on her drink and playing around with the paper wrap from the straw. She was trying to make a paper rose with it, she learnt it from the other waiters when her mom was still one. It took five minutes for the phone call to end, and it took half the time for the rose to finished. When her friend looked up to her she just gave the rose to her, it took a second for Valentina to knows what it was, another for her to made some squealing noises or something, and the last one second before she just keeps praising her.

“You know what, for this reason alone. You woo me to invite you to my team.” Valentina said

Juliana didn’t think too much of it “Yeah, okay.” She said offhandedly

“Really?” Valentina said again, getting a little excited

Juliana still thinks nothing of it and thought it was just some made up team in her friend head or some metaphorical said “Anything for you.”

“Really, really?” this time she just put her hands together in front of her and leaning against the table between them with wide puppy eyes.

Juliana doesn’t know what gets into the birthday girl just nod her head “Of course.” And that’s when the puppy-eyed Valentina squealed before jumping out of her seat and enveloped her in the tightest hug she has ever been in. It took around five seconds before it dawned on her, that there is a possibility of the girl was talking about a real team she had made or something. So, she blurted out a question “Is this team for real? Like a real team for Sunday league or something like that?”

Hearing that Valentina stopped and just laughed “Of course it is a real team, and you are my first teammate. And we can play in those Sunday league if you want for now, while we wait for our slot to open up in the NWSL in some years.” She said

“Wow.” Juliana could only breathe out

“Yeah right? Can you think about the fun we will have searching for others to play with us in our team? Building it from the ground up seems like a really exciting thing don’t you think? We get to play together for a long time, and maybe even win a cup or two, who am I kidding, we will win them all right? Oh and don’t worry about a thing, it will be a little bit annoying but we can draw up a contract so you essentially get ‘paid’ from the moment we play these Sunday leagues and other amateur leagues, we can makes it like an investment from the team to its academy or something. Maybe we should search for others around our age too, so we don’t have to deal a lot with seniority and maybe learn together as a team, I think it will benefit us most in the long run. Oh, we could search for girls from the other team that we will face in the youth world cups. I have so many ideas, and so many things I wanted to do. This is going to be exciting.” Valentina blabbered on and on about the things that comes into her mind

While Valentina was spilling out ideas, Juliana can only think about one thing. Like how lucky she really was to meet with this amazing friend of hers, and maybe a little small thought that they have to be somewhere soon came up but she had so many questions about the team and so many ideas too that comes up listening to her friend.

So that’s when it started, the long and wide talks about the newly founded team. How it happened, who will be helping them, who are they going to need, who do they want to play together with, where to search, and all of the little things. they just talked and throwing out ideas, some gets written down in a small leather-bound notebook, some just seems too outrageous that they just laughed it off but still written down. It was a really fun and exciting day for them, they forgot all about anything else that day and just spent it there in that small dinner throwing out ideas. It was night time already when Kat found them and took them home. Apparently, they missed the ‘surprised’ party. But that doesn’t seem to bother them, the fact that they had to stopped brainstorming did. But all in all, it was a really good day. She slept while still on the phone with Valentina talking some more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who are wondering, i used Barbara and Macarena's real birthday for their counterpart in the story since i dont know their actual birthday in the series was. and i made them both born in 2000 so Valentina was just turned 14 and Juliana was almost 14. hope you like this one


	26. Chapter 26

Lately the atmosphere in their practice session was getting thicker and thicker by the day, even though they still only practicing the same thing since camp there’s just no such thing as perfect and even a little bit better was a whole lot more appealing option than nothing at all in their teamwork department.

It’s just without realizing it they just started to get a whole lot more serious than they were used to, not saying that they weren’t before but usually there were a lot more laughter or at the very least smiles here and there in these practice sessions. But now Valentina mindset was only in one thing and one thing only, which was the world cup that were right around the corner. In fact, they were leaving to Costa Rica in a week.

“Are you going to eat your dinner or are you going to stare at it until it disappears into the abyss by the heat in your eyes?”

Valentina looked up to see Eva was grinning at her after her little jab and her whole family were looking at her too, her dad looked a little bit concerned.

“What’s the matter, nervous?” he asked taking her hand into his own on the table.

Valentina shook her head, it wasn’t nervousness. She had been in a lot of other tournaments before this one and the medals and trophy in the corner of her room prove as such, and sure it wasn’t as big of a deal as the world cup but shouldn’t it just be the same?

If she had to put a word into what she was feeling, she would choose excited like so excited it was borderline scary, maybe it was the later or maybe it was the former, who knows both of them basically the same thing and people can just label it however they want it to be.

“Don’t think about it too much, you are just creating more problems in your head than what it actually going to be.” Her brother said, with her dad nodding in approval of the words.

“Yes, just like what he says. Don’t worry about tomorrow too much, just worry about now which is eating.” Leon said as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze before letting it go.

So, she took her spoon and started to eat her dinner in front of her. And it quickly became something automatic and her mind went back to the tournament. Yes, in theory what they said was right, it was good to not have a mental exhaustion into a big tournament because no matter how good someone is their mental capacity plays a big role in these kinds of situations too.

But, knowing something and doing something about it is a two totally different tasks. And she just couldn’t help it when her minds wonder to all of the possible scenarios they could run into the matches and how she would react to those. Its just felt natural for her mind to think about a plethora of made up situations and the strategies to counter them. And to be honest it was getting exhausting.

~

“alright, talk to me.”

Valentina heard Juliana’s voice from behind as the girl came up to her and sat beside her. They just finished the last session of their practice with Brian before the world cup in Costa Rica, and their flight was tomorrow.

She sighed, “I’m just… it just started to sink in how real this tournament is and I just can’t help to be jittery about it or think too much into the opponents we are going to face.” Valentina confessed as she looked at Juliana beside her. “How’d you do it?”

“How do I do what?” Juliana asked, not really sure what was asked of her

“How do you stay calm in all of this?” Valentina questioned again

Juliana took a deep breath and blew it out, it took a several moments of silence before she turned to looked at Valentina, and at that moment when she looked back at the expression that greeted her back that Valentina knew what her friend’s answer before she even opened her mouth. “I’m not, I’m actually terrified right now. Just keep trying to convinced myself that I’ll do okay.”

They looked at each other and smiled a strained smile before looking back in front of them, to what a lot of people consider as the city of dream staring and listening to the faint sounds of the busy life of the city they came to love, somehow in their own little bubble feeling a little disconnected from the rest of the city.

Valentina thought about the words Juliana said, and in truth she couldn’t agree more with it, she was terrified. She was hoping that maybe Juliana doesn’t really feel the same and could help her make it feel better but what she didn’t realize was hearing that she wasn’t alone was a lot better and effective to calm her. It made her feel, she couldn’t believe she was thinking this but.

“But… somehow I felt a little excited and it keeps growing the more I focus on it.” Juliana stole her thought right out of her mind.

Valentina whipped her back to look at Juliana face, the girl was smiling and if she was honest it was kind of terrifying if not for the little ache she felt on her cheeks, that’s when she realized she probably had the same face as her friend right now.

“You know, this moment right here is probably going to be my most favorite moment later in life.” Valentina confessed drawing looks from the person beside her. “It’s the moment, before it starts.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is a little short, and more like a filler before the cup starts. Merry christmas to those who celebrate it, and happy holiday


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry its a bit late,  
hope you all had a good new year!!  
here's the new chapter, hope you all like it

Juliana was taking a little walk away from the hotel, it was the afternoon and they just got back from a light training session focusing on their first game against Germany in two days. They arrived in Costa Rica two days ago, trying to acclimate and getting the body used to the environment as best as possible so they get to give their all in the games ahead.

This tournament was a little different, well it is actually a lot different than the ones she ever participated before because this is the world cup. What she meant is the feeling she had leading to the first game; she knew it would be scary and maybe a little exciting but usually it calms down a little the closer the kick off gets. This one though doesn’t get away, not when she packed her stuff for a month away from home and saying goodbye to her mom. Not when she saw Valentina’s face and they flew to meet with the rest of the team. Not when she passed custom or when she got into her hotel room. Not even when they got into team meeting and hear that she will be starting most of the game, or even when she kicked the ball in training. Maybe it was the fact that when she thought about it this is a tournament that was filled with the best 300 something players in the whole world in their age group, competing for a piece of trophy. And if she thought about it some more those 300 something players already going against a thousand other players and came out on top just to be able to be here. Or maybe it was the fact that she still hasn’t felt connected with the team yet. Or it could be that she was a little skittish for being away from her mom for a long time. Or it could be something else entirely, she wasn’t sure what makes this one special all she knew that it’s just sitting there in the back of her chest getting louder and louder as the day passes by.

She knew she wasn’t the only one who was bothered by it, she noticed the little mistakes or late responses from the other team members representing their country.

Even Clara said something about her practice filled with nervousness, she offered a full body massage just to help her relax, which she would take up on if she feels like the nerves would interfere with her play later on.

For now, she would try a walk without any thoughts about the tournament first.

The hotel was bright orange two stories building that was quite long, it’s an open concept or something. Juliana wasn’t sure, what she knew is everywhere she looks they never forget to remind you that you are only five minutes away from nature. It was refreshing though, since the only green trees she gets to see in New York is going to central park or going down to New Jersey. What both cities has in common is tourists, in her limited exposure to the city here she already knows that this is an area packed with them. She heard their excited retelling of their adventure or planning on what are they going to do for the day in passing, and what she would do for a day to herself so she can try to calm her nerves, and since they are not here for pleasure but business, she gets 4 hours for herself instead of a day.

Hence the afternoon walks after practice, her destination was a small park maybe around 500 meters from the hotel. She found it on a similar walk yesterday.

The closer she gets the more disappointed she became, there was nothing in it. Just a couple of trees and fences going around it, there’s some benches and grass usually those should be enough to get her excited but she’s lacking a spherical object that makes grass fun.

Maybe she could text Val to bring her the ball, but if she’s not mistaken Valentina was in the meeting room getting drilled some more about the upcoming games. So that’s out of the question, maybe Mallory would be kind enough to do it, but she doesn’t have the girl’s number, she really should ask for these things. It is a little bit hard sometimes to socialize. Well tomorrow she would remember to bring a ball with her, and maybe asks for Mal's number when she’s at it.

She decided to just sit on one of the unoccupied benches and people watching to pass the time. She watched some children playing tag, and an elderly lady writing something on a newspaper a couple benches off of her. There wasn’t that many people there at the moment.

It’s been 15 minutes of mindlessly watching and just enjoying the nature when she heard the shout, she doesn’t really catch what was said but it startled her enough to turned around and see what’s happening. And that’s when she saw it, a ball flying towards her and by the power of experience she could tell that it will land in front of her and would bounce back and hit her in the face, its coming fast and she only had a split second to makes up her mind. Thankfully her leg reacted by its own and extended to control the ball to stop the momentum right before it hits the ground, at times like these that she really appreciates the trainings and the reflexes she had to control the wayward ball perfectly.

Juliana picked her head up to see where the ball came from. She saw a brunette girl probably a little older than her jogging up to her with an apologetic smile on her face, when she was closer Juliana did an around the world before kicking the ball lightly up and back to the girl for her to catch.

“I’m sorry.” The girl said when she got in front of the bench, Her English doesn’t seem too bad but there was still an accent there.

“It’s alright, it happens.” Juliana said, accepting the apology. What she was a little more curious is who the girl was, is she a player in the tournament, because she doesn’t look like the locals she had seen so far.

The brunette said another apology before turning around to go back on what she was doing, but after a couple steps she stopped and turned around again, she seems to considered her words in her head before saying “You want to play together?” mentioning on the ball in her hands.

Juliana nodded her head right away; she was bored and maybe some random kicking was in order to do something about her nerves. So, she followed the girl who introduced herself as Patri to a little open area in the park. They doesn’t talk much, just kicking the ball at each other in simple two touch games trying to one up each other with simple little flares and tricks.

That was the day she forgot about the heavy responsibility and pressure of the tournament, it’s the first time since she got back from the first camp that she doesn’t kicked a ball with the intention to get better in preparation for the tournament. It was actually just the thing she needed to calm her nerves a little before the upcoming games and go figures, football is the key to calming a nerve from a football tournament she just laughed at the irony of the situations.

~

The time finally came, two lines waiting just outside of the pitch for the time they came on and try their hardest to win points so they can go to the next round and do what they came here to do.

Juliana was at the back of the line with her team in front of her, the Germany’s team on their right side lining up themselves. They looked ready and prepared; she catches a few eye glances directed towards her from the oppositions. Her eyes eventually directed in front of her and saw Valentina was looking back at her, the brunette gave her a small smirk when they catch each other’s eyes.

They started walking to the field

She couldn’t help but thought about the day before, where they spent maybe two hours in a small hall and watch the girls walking on a line on her right. With the number of videos and the information they read about the girls, she felt like she already knew them.

They made a long line and started to listen to their national anthem

Today her body felt great, she had a light morning run just to get her body moving. Her nerves seem to dissipated and turned to excitement, and it just keeps building up and up.

They turned and started walking to give handshakes with their opponents for tonight, and walked back to get a picture taken, listen to coach gave a small speech and took their positions.

Now the time comes, only seconds away from the kick off, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath once. She opened her eyes and hear the whistle blew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> by the way, does anyone know who the mystery girl from the park is?


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the tournament starts. and hope you like this, its a little bit longer than the few chapters before this, because i had a little more free time this week.

Valentina doesn’t feel great, her body was okay but she just had these unshaken feeling that something bad could happen today. She doesn’t say anything to anyone but she just can’t help of being a little more cautious throughout the day, in the morning where she went for a light run and getting some touches on the ball with Juliana or even when she was descending the bus steps.

Today was the opening of the 2014 U-17 women’s world cup, it’s the start of the group stage where the top two of the four groups went ahead into the knockout stage, until only one team left as the winner of the cup and basically be the best U-17 women’s team in the world.

There are 4 games happening tonight for group A and group B, the rest of the group will start to play tomorrow. They are in group B and one of the second game that day to be playing, Italy won in group A and Ghana won their game and now were probably on the stands watching their games against Germany.

They needed to get a point tonight at the very least, so they don’t have too much pressure on the next two games. And it was with the intention of winning that Valentina stepped foot into the field, but she still felt uneasy about something right until before the whistle.

It wasn’t until the first five minutes of their game that she realizes why she felt like that, turns out they are horribly caught out unprepared. She knew that their team wasn’t the best team, but they should be around at the same level with their opponents in term of individual skills and some maybe even more.

Apparently, she was wrong, oh so so wrong. It was clear that the Germans were hungry and not messing around, they kept possession tightly then built the attack up carefully. Never made an unnecessary move or touches and had one thing in their mind, they played well together. And against a group that probably just a little better than a bunch of ragtag trying to play a pickup game in term of chemistry and teamwork, it was miserable.

Valentina wasn’t saying that her team doesn’t have the talent or skill to do it, it’s just they made too many small mistakes that turned into a disastrous giant of weakness in their team. Because their opponents weren’t a pushover and they will pounce on those mistakes, and sooner or later they would have to pay for these poor performances.

They’ve been playing in front of their own goal trying to defend from the start of the match, and it was annoying to say the least

And just like she predicted it came in the five minutes of the first half, Germany got their fifth corner of the game after a clearance from a nasty looking attack they just endured. It was a really nice ball into the far corner that went right over the traffic into the waiting head of one of their forwards, that she just nodded into the net. Their keeper tried their best but she just doesn’t have the reach to cover the trajectory and made a save, so that could be the opening of the torturous 90 minutes of her day.

~

It wasn’t even five minutes after the first goal, Valentina was looking around her and repositioning herself into the spaces between the Germany’s player to open up a passing line straight to her when she saw it, a weak back pass from her defender to the keeper and all she could do was watch as the Germany’s forward who was pressing deep pounced hard on the ball, she got a one on one chance with their keeper. And hoped for her keeper to salvage the situation, thankfully the keeper made a good call to went up to her right away to close up the goal as much as she could, and in turn made the decision for the forward that took the shot, that got deflected and went wide, presenting their opponents on another corner.

They took their positions to defend another corner, Valentina saw how deep Juliana was positioning herself. That’s not good, she knew they were in a bad predicament and the game wasn’t going their way from the kickoff until now at all, but for her best friend to decides to help with the defending so far back was an indication of how deep the hole they found themselves was, and the game hasn’t even passed the fifteen minutes mark yet.

Valentina motion to Juliana to stay up, the dark-haired girl doesn’t look too convinced. But she did go up reluctantly when Valentina mouthed to her to trust her. She knew her friend meant well to help with the opponents set piece and standing close with another pair of legs should help. But let’s face it, they both are a lot younger than the rest and their physiques shows it. Besides this was like the sixth corner the Germans had, surely they had to ran out of set pieces soon right. And most importantly, Juliana was their only channel for the ball when they do get it, she’s their release so they don’t just get choke to death if she doesn’t position herself properly. And for delivering the ball to her was Valentina’s job, heck it’s the whole team’s but for now she just really needs to believe in herself, she’s the only one she knew that she could control.

Valentina sighed as she saw the corner being taken and everybody suddenly moves, this is going to be a really long game.

~

Valentina was exhausted, she took a look at the clock and it says they only played for 15 minutes or five minutes from that last heart wrenching mistake they did. What a long game indeed, but right now they had something. A small little breathing room that could turn into a chance if executed properly, they just need to convert this half line throw in into a quick attack that hopefully will catch the Germans by surprise.

She presented herself as a target for the throw in, she knew she had one girl shadowing her and another one not too far away to support if needed, the Germans been pressing them deep in their own territory since the start of the game. And she knows that she had two girl she could give the ball to so they can develop it further, so that was her priority for now.

Valentina motion to her feet so her teammate knows to throw it there instead of above, she needed the extra second to control the ball and hopefully fool her shadow.

The ball came, she took a quick look behind to determine the situation before controlling the ball with her touch. It went as she imagined in her head, her first touch was only to guide the ball to roll behind her and her shadow at an angle, and right as the ball left her foot she turned while maneuvering around the girl behind and chase the ball, another cut to avoid the second opponents that was coming while simultaneously positioned it for a better run up for her next move, she looked up quickly to picked out someone anyone to feed the ball to.

The best pick right now is Mal, she was the closest to the goal and there’s only one defender around her to do anything about it, but a ping from here right to the girl is quite difficult and probably won’t put the girl in the best position later, with how far they are and that will give the defender times to respond and close in on Mal.

The second one she could realistically reach is Juliana, she’s not too far from Mal but she was in the middle of two defender behind her and one midfielder not too far away either. Feeding the ball to Juliana was easier for her but probably won’t be the best choice at first glance, but she knew better.

Her mind was made when she saw Juliana take a step closer to her, Valentina approach the ball and kicked it with quite a bit of power. not too high and not too low, around the height of your hips. Not your usual place to feed the ball and most people would be angry with a ball like that, but she hoped that Juliana got what she was trying to do with a ball like that.

Valentina watched as Juliana ran a little to the ball, to makes sure she beats the two girls that was closing in on her to try and win the ball from her. Like she predicted, Juliana got the first touch on the ball with two players right behind her. Valentina could only smile on what happened next, the ball was still on an uncomfortable height to control but that wasn’t what she planned, she just needed Juliana to redirect the ball elsewhere, which is a lot easier with the power she put onto the kick.

And just like what she hoped for, Juliana put stopped her run, she twists her body a little and lift one foot, she used the outside of that foot to redirected the ball between the goal and Mal while shouting for the girl’s name. it was such a beautiful move and she knew she’s not the only one that appreciates it, to do that and put the ball where she wanted it in a split-second decision was impressive. And Valentina was a little more so that Juliana could read her mind just like that, maybe she would find it a little scary on other circumstances but now she was grateful for it.

Valentina heard the crowd goes a little wild seeing that move. Thankfully Mal knew that the ball was meant for her after hearing her name and ran to it, she got a head start from her defender that there’s no way the girl could catch up and defend Mal properly. It’s just Mal against the keeper, the keeper decided to close in on Mal but Mal got to the ball first, she takes a small touch to control it and shoot it.

It was a powerful and fast, surely the keeper wouldn’t be able to catch it. she didn’t, but she did get a small touch on it. enough to change the ball trajectory to go wide. Valentina heard the groan of the crowd and saw Mal was kneeling on the grass, probably frustrated with herself.

~

Valentina was frustrated, that first chance five minutes ago was supposed to be a good thing for them, it should be something that lift their spirits up and making them do better, because it should tell them that they had what it takes to win. It should show them that their team, no matter how bad their coordination was still in the same level as the Germany.

And it did, they played a little better than before. But apparently Germany doesn’t like that and they too played with a different kind of fire, and they scored their second goal. Doubling their lead in the twentieth minutes of the first half, the goal was nothing special.

Like she said, the goal was ordinarily boring. But at the end of the day, a goal is still a goal, and they are the thing that decides the match, no matter how beautiful or ugly it is, there’s no such thing as a goal count as two or even three.

No disrespect for the German players but they don’t have the individual superstar in the making, or that’s what Valentina thought by looking at their plays. It was so by the book, that the thought of them making a special kind of approach was becoming more and more bizarre in her head. But experience and Brian told her never throw away the idea even if the possibility is so low. Valentina was reading and predicting their moves and plans easily, and so far, she’s always right. She saw the goal happened five seconds before it happens, and all she could do was gritted her teeth and watch as she was running back in exercise of futility, covering the possible rebound space, it’s just a discipline thing to do from her by now. Because even if she knew and can see the plays clearly, there’s only so much she can do as herself, football is a team game first and foremost, and there’s just no way for one person to go against a team of eleven by herself and expect any other results in this sport. Besides, knowing something and doing something about it is a whole different beast altogether.

So, the score line was a little bit problematic but they could deal with it, she knew they can. There’s something else that’s brewing in the air that was a lot more handful and could be the death of their team later, it’s the team’s spirit. It feels a little dull, the little sparks that appeared after their first chance was gone and they went back to the stumbling mess they were, and it was frustrating. Screaming and kicking the ball as hard as she could kind of frustrating, like who does that. It’s still super early in the match and they were behind by two, but so what. If their opponents did it, so can they, maybe even better than them and do double. The match basically just started for god sake, Valentina really wanted to pull their shirts and scream at their faces.

Breathe, that’s the thing she needs right now, oxygen. She tried to calm herself as much as she could in this situation, and breathing seems to work for a bit. She heard her name being called and looked at the sideline, coach was telling her to stay back a little bit more. Not just her, it seems like he wanted them to try and minimize the lead as much as possible so they can try to catch up with different strategy in the second half. That’s good, maybe. Playing this way doesn’t makes you win but hopefully they could get at least one counter attack chance later, she could only hope.

Valentina doesn’t like the decision and got back begrudgingly, playing five-four-one was really passive in her eyes, and passive doesn’t win goals. But maybe it was for the best, with their state of minds right now cutting off the lead seems like a good choice. It’s like stop the leak before starting to dump the water out, she could work with that, probably.

~

She tried, she really did try to see the positive things on the situation they found themselves in. but no matter how hard she tried to convinced herself that it was the best thing for them at the moments, Valentina just couldn’t wipe the scowl on her face, and thinking about how she looks won’t make her feelings any less better.

It feels like it’s been forever since they started play this fort kind of play, just defending and defending and defending. There was one or two opportunities to counter attack, if only this other girl in midfield stop rushing things and ruin it for them, just because it’s a counter attack and most of the time the theme of the attack was fast while the opponents haven’t came back to their positions and ready yet, doesn’t mean they had to just kick the ball forward and hope for the best, leaving their striker to pick up the pieces.

Valentina felt bad for Juliana, knowing the girl she would always try her best to get to the ball and make something with it, and she won’t stop until she got it or the ball went out of bounds first, some people just don’t deserve a forward like Juliana. Valentina knew she shouldn’t have bitter thoughts about her teammates like these, but the heat of the situation and the circumstances was at critical, and she just can’t help that her mind wonder on those places at times like these.

Especially as she saw another shot from the German from outside of the box passing through her and going into the net, extending their leads to three to nothing. That’s a lot of works to catch up for, and they only had less than 10 minutes before the first half’s going to end.

~

Valentina felt the changes that her team went through after that third goal, they don’t show it but somehow there’s this feeling in the air that suddenly became heavy with that last goal. It looked like some of their players moved underwater, she cannot explain how but that’s just what it feels like watching them going back to their positions for the kick off.

She knew something must happen before the end of the half, no matter what it is. It should be able to shift the momentum. So, she got into the circle towards Juliana who was waiting for the referee to signal the play.

“Can you run up and shoot?” Valentina asked, Juliana just looked at her not really sure what to say to the question “Please?” Valentina begged, hoping at the very least one person on this field still understand her.

Juliana was looking at her for a moment, searching for something before saying “Okay.”

It was such a simple word, but it was all that she needed. A confirmation that they are still on the same page, and they needed to do something about this gloomy atmosphere on their side of the field.

The referee blew the whistle and the fourth kick off commence on that first half, Juliana pass the ball back to her and ran ahead.

The German girls were getting to their positions and some of them crossing the half line to the US sides of the field from the outside.

Valentina was just standing with the ball in front of her, she had a couple seconds before someone realized that they probably should press her for the ball. That’s should be enough for Juliana to at least reach her own comfortable shooting range, the girl has a scary accuracy even from long range.

Valentina saw Juliana haven’t gotten that far but she made the overhead pass anyway, and it landed right in front of Juliana who was still running. Valentina saw as the girl took a touch and shoot it, it was still far out, probably 35 yards or so. But she won’t ever underestimate Juliana on her shooting again, not after she got humbled by the girl on a shooting contest in their training session together, Juliana didn’t miss a single target that day and got a perfect score.

And just like she expected, the ball was sailing hard and fast in the air. It was going up slowly and doesn’t seem to be stopping soon, but it should still be low enough to got into the net with how slow it was rising. From where she was standing, she saw that it was going straight to the upper right corner, the keeper was ready and she jumped. But she’s not even close to be able to reach and cover the space in time with how fast the ball was going.

CLINK

It was the only sounds that Valentina could hear, as she watched the ball rises a little too much and hit the crossbar then went out of bounds. It was deafening, or maybe most people there were as speechless as her. It took a couple seconds until someone started clapping from the stands that suddenly became louder and louder as more people joins in. and that’s sucks, who claps on the almost of other people. Valentina just gritted her teeth and went back to her position.

A couple of minutes, it seems like their opponents starting to had a little doubt or maybe a realization that they were not actually a runover and should live up to the expectations. And a couple of minutes was how long it takes until Valentina intercepted a pass and looked up, broke a little smile despite of how she was feeling because she picked out Juliana’s back already running ahead, it just seems like the girl knew and trusted her enough to got the ball and pick her.

Her heart warmed a little bit with a different kind of heat than the one she has been feeling for a while. This time, she pings the ball into the running line of Juliana and watch. It fell and bounce maybe five yards in front of Juliana which was just outside of the 18 yards box, the keeper was outside deciding to close in onto the ball and that’s a good decision.

With the keeper closing and how fast Juliana was running, Valentina knew the only thing she could do was to hit a volley over the keeper, and she did. The keeper jumps and try to reach the ball as best as she could, and she was close maybe a little too close as she got a fingertip touch on the ball. And that’s detrimental to the trajectory of the ball, as no matter how good the shot was, how powerful and accurate and how good the spin was. A touch no matter how small and seems insignificant they are, will always cause some harm to the overall result.

And it shows, she watched in horror as she heard the sound.

CLINKK

That sounds, that annoying clinking pinging high pitched ring, followed by the groans of a couple thousands of people who were watching from the stands were the last things Valentina wanted to hear. The ball hit the crossbar, again. And they are just a couple of millimeters unlucky as it bounces back and down to the ground and away from the line. The keeper scrambled back to secure the ball, hugging it close to her chest. Valentina was sure their hearts were racing with totally different reason at that moment, and she just needed to get to the other end and switch places.

Valentina just had to find a way to give Juliana more chances, because she was sure no matter how many times the keeper kisses that posts, it won’t save them forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please tell me what do you think about the actions in the match, can you guys picture it? follow it? love it? hate it?  
i'd love to hear what do you people think about it and hopefully improve on it for the coming chapters.  
thanks for reading


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